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THE LIFE OF 

WILLIAM HENRY 

OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA 

1729-1786 

PATRIOT, MILITARY OFFICER, 
INVENTOR OF THE STEAMBOAT 



A CONTRIBUTION TO REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY 
BY 

FRANCIS JORDAN, Jr. 

A Member of the American Philosophical Society 



Press of 

The New era printing company 

lancaster, pa. 

I9IO 






1 



Copyrighted 1910 
By Francis Jordan, Jr. 



r 



'^^268634 




PREFACE. 

HEN It was first suggested that I 
should write the Life of William 
Henry, of Lancaster, Pennsyl- 
vania, by those of his descendants 
who desired a more Intimate knowledge of 
his career than could be learned from fugi- 
tive accounts unsupported by documentary 
evidence, I thought to confine the work 
within the limits of a brief summary of his 
eventful early life and his activities during 
the Revolution. 

After a careful examination of the material 
placed at my disposal, much of It new and all 
of it of more than ordinary historical and 
scientific Interest, to the student of American 
history as well as to his posterity, I felt that 
to restrict Its scope to the contemplated 
brochure would have been a distinct loss to 
both. It seemed to me that a full account of 
his unique personality and notable career, sav- 
oring almost of medieval romance ; his inven- 
tive genius, his correspondence with statesmen, 
and military officers of high rank who figured 



iv The Life of William Henry. 

prominently in the struggle for independence, 
and finally his own eminent services to the 
State and Confederation, warranted not only 
a deserved tribute to his unostentatious pa- 
triotism, too long deferred, but an appeal to 
a larger audience. 

If the book in its necessarily modest pro- 
portions fails to reveal the social and domes- 
tic side of his life, or his impressions of men 
of action of that day, It must be explained 
that he left no diary; and if in any of its parts 
it appears lacking in continuity, it must be 
charged to the absence of papers that, through 
ignorance of their Importance to the historian, 
have been mislaid, perchance destroyed, and 
no longer available. In its preparation I 
desire to express my indebtedness to Granville 
Henry, Esq., of Boulton, Pa., Dr. John W. 
Jordan, of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania, and Dr. Frank R. Diffenderffer, of 
Lancaster, without whose generous aid in sup- 
plying valuable data the book would have 
been Incomplete Indeed. 

Francis Jordan, Jr. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I. 

TAGB. 

Ancestry and Early Life i 

Chapter II. 

Rescues Gelelemend, a Delaware Chief, on 
Braddock's Field 7 

Chapter III. 
Marriage to Ann Wood 19 

Chapter IV. 

William Henry, the Benefactor and First 
Patron of Benjamin West. 26 

Chapter V. 

Sails for England; Captured by French Priva- 
teer and Landed in Spain ; Reaches England, 
Meets Watts and Becomes Interested in his 
Experiments 34 

Chapter VI. 

Inventor and Man of Science. Is the First to 
Apply Steam to Marine Navigation 37 

V 



vi Contents. 



Chapter VII. 



Enters Public Life and Espouses American 
Cause 56 



l^oh 



Chapter VIII. 



ohn Joseph Henry Joins Arnold's Expedition 
Against Canada; is Taken Prisoner and 
Confined in Quebec 60 

Chapter IX. 

Civil and Military Appointments; Authorized 
to Manufacture Arms for the Continental 
Army; Entertains John Hart, David Ritten- 
house and Thomas Paine during British 
Occupation of Philadelphia 71 

Chapter X. 
Thomas Paine 82 

Chapter XL 
Lancaster in 1777 87 

Chapter XII. 

Arms for the Troops the Crying Need of the 
Hour 91 



Contents. vii 

Chapter XIII. 

Is Made Superintendent of Arms and Accou- 
trements, and Assistant Commissary Gen- 
eral 102 

Chapter XIV. 

Reed-Henry Correspondence on the Alarming 
Financial Condition of the Country iii 

Chapter XV. 

The Reed-Henry Correspondence Continued; 
the Revolt of the Pennsylvania Troops. ... 131 

Chapter XVI. 

Correspondence with Hon. Joseph Reed, Hon. 
William Moore, General Anthony Wayne 
and Judge William Atlee 136 

Chapter XVII. 

From Colonel William Henry to the Honor- 
able Joseph Reed, President of Pennsylvania, 
Suggesting a Plan to Avert Financial 
Disaster 146 

Chapter XVIII. 

Is Elected to the Congress of 1784, '85 and '86 
and Dies in Office. Summary of his Career. 166 



WILLIAM HENRY 

OF Lancaster, Pa. 




CHAPTER I. 

His Ancestry and Early Life. 

ILLIAM HENRY, the subject of 
this brief but eventful history, was 
born at the homestead in Chester 
County, Pennsylvania, on May 
19, 1729, and although the exigencies of his 
youth were discouraging, he left no superficial 
Impress on the time in which he lived. 

Indeed it has come to few men even in a 
more enlarged sphere, within so short a span, 
to have had conferred upon them so many 
honors and responsibilities, both civil and mil- 
itary. His scientific achievements, the devel- 
opment of an extraordinary inventive talent, 
deserve to rank with those of his contempora- 
ries, Franklin and Rittenhouse, as " To 
Henry belongs the honor of conceiving the 
Idea of utilizing steam as a motive power for 
2 I 



2 The Life of William Henry. 

marine navigation, and of building the first 
steamboat ever built in the United States."^ 

We shall learn that he was generous, quick 
to recognize genius and sympathized In Its 
struggles. He was undemonstrative and 
made light of his own performances; but In 
reviewing them it is difficult to refrain from 
extravagant euloglum of one endowed with 
so many admirable qualities and withal so 
modest and unassuming. 

He first comes Into prominence as Armorer 
of the State forces attached to Braddock's ex- 
pedition against Fort Duquesne In 1755; but 
his military career did not end with the defeat 
of Braddock, as In the following year, 1756, 
he filled a similar commission under Forbes, 
and upon the breaking out of hostilities be- 
tween the colonies and the mother country, 
he espoused the cause of the former with en- 
thusiasm, was appointed Assistant Commis- 
sary General, served with distinction through 
the war, and was empowered to act as fiscal 
agent of the State and Confederation for 
Lancaster and the adjoining counties. He 

^"Robert Fulton," by Dr. Robert H. Thurston, late 
professor of engineering, Cornell University, New York, 
1891, p. 34. 



The Life of William Henry. 3 

was elected a member of the Pennsylvania 
Assembly, sat upon the bench as one of its 
judiciary, served nine years as Treasurer of 
Lancaster County, the richest and most popu- 
lous in the state ; was a member of many im- 
portant committees created in the interests of 
the Revolution, and rounded out his useful, 
and — if I may employ the word in describing 
so strong a character — picturesque career as 
a delegate to the Continental Congress. 

Henry's grandparents, Robert and Mary 
Ann Henry, who were of Scotch ancestry, 
sailed for America, via Coleraine, Ireland, 
with their three adult sons John, Robert and 
James in the year 1722, arriving the same 
year at New Castle, Delaware, whence, after 
a brief stop, they proceeded to their planta- 
tion in West Cain Township, in the charming 
environment of Chester County, Province of 
Pennsylvania. Here both parents died on 
the same day in 1735, the husband in the 
morning and the wife in the afternoon, and 
were buried in the same grave at Boyd's Pres- 
byterian Meeting House. 

Of the sons James married Mary Ann, and 
Robert, Sarah Davis, sisters, who with their 
eight children removed to Virginia. John, 



4 The Life of William Henry. 

the oldest son and the father of William 
whose life we are recording, married, in 1728 
Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh and Mary 
(Jenkins) DeVinne, of Huguenot descent, 
who in 1723 settled in the vicinity of the 
Henry plantation. John Henry died in 
1747, leaving to the care of his widow, two 
sons and three daughters, of whom William 
was the oldest child. The daughters mar- 
ried into the families of Postlethwait, Bick- 
ham and Carson. 

It was the cherished hope of the father of 
William Henry that his children should enjoy 
as thorough a scholastic training as his means 
and the best local institutions provided, but 
his early death and the insufficiency of his es- 
tate compelled his widow to send William at 
the age of fifteen to Lancaster, then the larg- 
est inland town in the Province, where he was 
apprenticed to Matthew Roesser, a gunsmith. 
Henry's mechanical aptitude made him an 
ideal apprentice, as in 1750 when but twenty- 
one years of age, he engaged in making arms 
on his own account, forming a partnership 
with Joseph Simon, of whom it is recorded, 
" He was a wealthy Jew of high character, 



1 1 



The Life of William Henry. 5 

the ancestor of three prominent Hebrew fam- 
ilies of Philadelphia."^ 

Henry was progressive and believed In 
advertising, as the following letter to William 
Bradford, the well-known journalist and 
printer, shows : 

To William Bradford 

Printer in Philadelphia, 
Be pleased to insert and continue in the Front of 
your Journal the Inclosed advertisement. Inclosed 
is five shillings. 

Yours with respect, 

William Henry. 
Lancaster 17th July, 1766. 

This business association with Simon pros- 
pered, as within a short time Henry built a 
commodious dwelling on the public square^ the 
most eligible site in the town, which he occu- 
pied with his mother and widowed sister, and 
where the former died on October 9, 1777. 
The announcement of her death copied from a 
journal of the day reads : " To-day the mother 

^One of his descendants was the beautiful Miss Re- 
becca Gratz, of Philadelphia, the original of the Jewess 
in Scott's " Ivanhoe." Washington Irving's encomiums 
of her mind and person suggested the character to Scott. 



6 The Life of William Henry. 

of William Henry died In her seventy-fifth 
year. She was a friend to the poor and 
needy." 

Colonel Henry looked well to the comfort 
and dignity of his household, and was accus- 
tomed to the amenities of good living. 
Among his papers are receipted bills that tell 
their own story. 

He employed two maids and a " serving 
man," and paid not only for their maintenance 
but for their apparel. On December 14, 
1778, he paid David Gordon one hundred 
and seventy-five pounds for a chair (a kind of 
gig) for Mrs. Henry, and to his hairdresser, 
one George Meyer an Italian, who addressed 
him as the Hon. Guglilemo Henry, for ad- 
justing his wigs to the fashion of the day and 
for other attentions, one pound and five 
shillings. 

In January of 1782 he bought of James 
Hall, a silversmith of Lancaster, one dozen 
silver spoons and a silver cream jug for Mrs. 
Henry, and a pair of gold buttons for Mrs. 
Rose, his mother-in-law, paying for them 
seven pounds and ten shillings. 




CHAPTER II. 

Rescue of Gelelemend, a Delaware 
Chief, on Braddock's Field. 

T was while serving with the colo- 
nial troops under Braddock In 
1755, that Major Henry, as he 
was then known, met with an ad- 
venture In his efforts to save the life of an 
Indian chief that has no parallel In Indian 
history, and In our skeptical and prosaic day 
reads like a romance. 

Scoffers have laughed at the sentimental 
and " Impossible " Indian of Cooper's Incom- 
parable tales, but In the light of this un- 
adorned story of Indian gratitude, his Ideal 
Is more than justified. 

Gelelemend (the Delaware word for 
leader) , whose soubriquet among the whites 
was KUlbuck, a Delaware chief, was born In 
1737 at Lehigh Water Gap among the Blue 
Hills of Pennsylvania, where the picturesque 
Lehigh cuts through the mountain on Its way 
to join the Delaware at Easton. 

His grandfather, the well-known Netawat- 
7 



8 The Life of William Henry. 

wes, chief counsellor of the Turkey tribe of 
the Delaware nation, had hunted, fished and 
trapped on both banks of the Delaware, from 
its source to the sea coast. With the advance 
of the whites he and his people retreated 
along the river, making a final stand among 
the Lehigh hills, where Killbuck first saw the 
light of day, and where game was still plen- 
tiful. 

On the breaking out of the colonial wars 
for the supremacy of the western territoiy, 
in which the Indians bore a conspicuous part, 
Killbuck, who had barely reached manhood, 
fought under the flag of France, and on Brad- 
dock's disastrous field fell into the hands of 
a party of the Fortieth Regiment of foot, 
who were about to dispatch him with their 
bayonets, when Major Henry, at the risk of 
his own life, rescued him from the infuriated 
soldiers. This merciful interference, so un- 
precedented in Indian warfare, overwhelmed 
the youthful brave with gratitude, and as 
an expression of this feeling proposed to Ma- 
jor Henry an exchange of names, than which, 
according to the Indian code, no greater 
honor could be conferred. 

From that time until his death Killbuck 




HON. WILLIAM HENRY, JR., 

OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 



The Life of William Henry. 9 

was variously known as Captain William 
Henry, William Henry Killbuck and, towards 
the close of his life, as Old William Henry. 
No opportunity was allowed to pass without 
some exhibition of his gratitude ; neither time 
nor distance could efface it, and when Henry 
passed away this bond of friendship was ex- 
tended to his descendants. 

After the French and Indian Wars he re- 
moved to the west bank of the Muskingum 
in the State of Ohio, where he founded a vil- 
lage on the site of the present town of Sharon. 

In 1774 he revisited the scenes of his early 
life in Pennsylvania, stopping at Lancaster 
to call upon his old friend Major Henry, who 
unfortunately was in Philadelphia. Mak- 
ing himself known to his son William 
Henry, Jr.,^ he requested the latter to convey 

' William Henry, Junior, son of William and Ann 
Henry, was born at Lancaster, Pa., March 12, 1757. In 
1778 he engaged in the manufacture of fire-arms in North- 
ampton County, and in 1808 erected a forge in which the 
first iron manufactured in the county was drawn March 
9, 1809. In 1813 he built the Boulton Gun Works on the 
Bushkill, which are still continued by his descendents of 
the name. Mr. Henry was commissioned, January 14, 
1788, a justice of the peace and judge of the courts of 
common pleas and quarter sessions of the county, by 
appointment of Governor Muhlenberg. He resigned 18 14. 



lo The Life of William Henry. 

to his father the assurances of his unaltered 
affection. 

He declared his people knew how to pay 
a debt of gratitude, as any one of the name of 
Henry would discover If occasion required a 
journey through the West, which he said 
could be made without fear of molestation. 

When about to leave he turned to Judge 
Henry, and In a manner so Impressive as not 
to be misunderstood, said, " Say to your 
father, Indian never forgets." 

He arrayed himself on the side of the col- 
onies in the Revolution, cooperating with the 
forces under Col. Daniel Brodhead In de- 
fending the Pennsylvania frontier against the 
depredations of the hostile Indians, and Is 
honorably mentioned by that officer In his 
correspondence with the military authorities. 
Pennsylvania, as an appreciation of his ser- 
in 1792 he was elected one of the presidential electors of 
the State and cast his vote for Washington's second term 
for President. He was active in his judicial capacity in 
suppressing what was known as the Fries Rebellion of 
1798-99, in Bucks and Northampton Counties, Pa., in 
opposition to the " House Law Tax " passed by Congress, 
July 9, 1798. In 1795 he was appointed one of the Com- 
missioners to erect the first bridge over the Delaware, 
at Easton, Pa. 



The Life of William Henry. ii 

vices, granted him a pension of forty pounds 
per annum, and the federal government sup- 
plemented it with a grant of land, consisting 
in part of an island in the Ohio River near 
Pittsburg, still known as Killbuck's Island. 

It was a happy coincidence that Colonel 
Henry and Killbuck met for the second time 
in Trenton, N. J., in 1784, after the declara- 
tion of peace, where Congress then sat, Henry 
being a delegate from Pennsylvania. Kill- 
buck was also there in a representative capa- 
city, having been selected to adjust certain 
claims of his tribe for indemnity for lands 
sequestered by the government. One can 
readily imagine their cordial greeting, twenty- 
nine years after that eventful day on Brad- 
dock's field; and as Colonel Henry was one 
of the Committee on Indian Affairs, Killbuck 
appeared before at least one sympathetic lis- 
tener. 

They never met again. Henry died two 
years later, and when the news was brought 
to Killbuck by the Moravian missionary at 
Salem, Ohio, he sent a message of condolence 
to Mrs. Henry. 

In 1797 William Henry, Jr., was in charge 



12 The Life of William Henry. 

of a commission^ created by Congress to 
locate a section of public land near Gnaden- 
hutten, Ohio, a gift from the government to 
the Moravian Church to reimburse it for 
losses sustained in the Revolution. It so hap- 
pened that several of Killbuck's children were 
living in the neighborhood, and as soon as it 
was learned that Mr. Henry was one of the 
surveying party they came into camp, greeted 
him with unfeigned pleasure and were as- 
siduous in their attentions. Three months 
were spent in the woods by the surveyors, and 
during that time daily supplies of venison, 
bear's meat, wild turkeys and other game were 
generously provided for the entire party. 

In the autumn of 1799 a party of thirty 
Delawares with their squaws and pappooses 
(Killbuck was living but too old to travel), 

* Attached to the commission was the widely known 
Moravian missionary to the Indians, the Rev. John Hecke- 
welder. He was the author of "The History, Manners 
and Customs of the Indian Nations of Pennsylvania and 
the Neighboring States," now regarded as an author- 
ity. His daughter, Johanna Maria, born April 6, 1781, 
at Salem, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, was the first fe- 
male white child born within the borders of that State. 
Strange as it may sound in the year 1910, in which I 
write, I had the pleasure of meeting her in her declining 
years. She died April 19, 1868. — F. J., Jr. 



The Life of William Henry. 13 

who were on their way to the seat of govern- 
ment, stopped at Nazareth, Pa., to pay their 
respects to Judge William Henry, Jr., who 
received them in a friendly manner, and per- 
mitted them to encamp on his grounds. 

One of Mr. Henry's children thus describes 
the Impression they made on his youthful 
mind: 

" I well remember my mother's anxiety In conse- 
quence of their making numerous fires In preparing 
their meals. My father provided them with straw 
upon which they lay, wrapped In their woolen 
blankets, and the danger from fire was great. I 
remember how their gaudy accoutrements and the 
tinsel on their rifles, tomahawks, and scalping knives, 
attracted my attention. A few of them spoke Eng- 
lish, and, boy-like, I tried to imitate their sonorous 
and guttural sounds. They came to my father's 
at two In the afternoon, and left the next day at 
twelve. I heard my father speak of this visit after 
they had gone, and of others made by the Indians, 
In recognition of my grandfather's rescue of Gele- 
lemend, which they cherished as a sacred memory." 

In 1800 Matthew Henry, another son of 
Colonel Henry, visited his brother, a captain 
of artillery. United States Army, stationed at 



14 The Life of William Henry. 

Fort Macinac, Mich. On his way out he 
called on old Killbuck in Ohio, of whom he 
writes to his brother John Joseph Henry: 

" On the 7th I reached the Indian town of Goshen 
with Mr. Mortimer and the next morning visited 
old Wm. Henry, who expressed the greatest satis- 
faction at seeing me. I presented him with a 
blanket, which I procured for the purpose, for which 
he thanked me in an Indian speech, which Mr. Mor- 
timer interpreted. The old man speaks very good 
English, but his heart was so full that he could not 
give utterance to his gratitude but in his native 
tongue. 

" He asked particularly about our family and was 
much interested in my account of your Canadian 
campaign. When I told him of your lameness he 
said he thought it would have been more humane 
had the British killed you rather than to have per- 
mitted you to live a cripple. He has three sons 
here, John, Charles and Christian. John is a re- 
markably fine, tall, well-made man, with a manly, 
open and intelligent countenance. 

** Charles is married to a white woman, who was 
taken prisoner when a child near Minisink. She 
knows nothing of her parentage or native language. 
He is a kind and affectionate husband, and takes 
a part in all domestic labor. They are without 
children. 



The Life of William Henry. 15 

" I wrote you that I expected to have Charles or 
John Henry as a guide, but I found them busily en- 
gaged in finishing their houses, therefore could not 
expect them to leave, but Christian, an active and 
ambitious young man vi^ho lives with his father and 
whose wife is at Fairfield in Canada, readily en- 
gaged to accompany me." 

We now approach " the last scene of all 
of this strange eventful history," Killbuck's 
pathetic letter of farewell — his final tribute 
to the memory of Colonel Henry. It is ad- 
dressed to Judge William Henry, Jr., and is 
in the handwriting of the Rev. John Morti- 
mer, the Moravian missionary, who took the 
words down as Killbuck dictated them. 

Goshen, 27 Sept. 1805. 
My dearly beloved JVilliam Henry: 

As you have the same name with me, and I 
have often heard of your love for me and my family, 
therefore I send this letter to you to salute you all, 
from me and my children, and grandchildren, and 
to assure you of our love for you. My dearly be- 
loved brethern: We are truly poor, needy and un- 
deserving people; think with compassion on us. It 
is my desire to live entirely for our Saviour, and 
place my whole confidence in him. 

That is all I have to say to you. 

William Henry. 



1 6 The Life of William Henry. 

He died in 1811 at eighty-two, and was 
buried in Sharon, where there is still a Mora- 
vian congregation, a church he had joined in 
1788. He was an intelligent, high-minded 
man, revered by his people, over whom he ex- 
erted a strong influence. After he had 
learned and recognized the principles of 
Christianity he expressed regret at the ex- 
cesses practiced in his early manhood. 

With this concluding incident and the 
death of Killbuck one would suppose our story 
had come to an orderly close; but the end is 
not yet, nor likely soon to be. Even as these 
lines are penned, one hundred and fifty-four 
years after the initial event they so inade- 
quately describe, the present generation of 
Killbuck's descendants are perpetuating the 
traditional friendship. 

Still following the chain of incidents con- 
necting this unique tale of Indian fidelity, we 
are informed that a Mr. Alexander who had 
edited a newspaper in Pittston, Pa., but had 
removed to Kansas, encountered an Indian 
family in that State of the name of Henry, 
whom he discovered were descendants of Kill- 
buck. The incidents that led to the adop- 
tion of the name, as they related them, agreed 




WILLIAM HENRY, 3rd, 

OF WYOMING, 

THE FOUNDER OF THE CITY OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA. 



The Life of William Henry. 17 

In every important particular with the story as 
It Is given in these pages. Mr. Alexander 
revisited Pittston in 1858, when he communi- 
cated the foregoing to Mr. William Henry,^ 
of Wyoming, Pa., a grandson of William 
Henry, of Lancaster. 

Coming down to the present day, we find 
that in 1873 John Henry Killbuck, a great- 
great-grandson of Gelelemend was placed in 
the Moravian Institution for boys at Naza- 
reth, Pa., subsequently entered the Moravian 
College at Bethlehem, and, after his gradua- 
tion, the missionary service of that church. 

^ William Henry, the third of that name, was born Au- 
gust 15, 1796, and died at his home in the Wyoming Val- 
ley, May 22, 1878. Having an expert knowledge of metal- 
lurgy and indomitable energy, he was the first to recog- 
nize the rich mineral resources of the Lackawanna Val- 
ley and was the pioneer in their development, his atten- 
tion being drawn to the locality in 1832, when the valley 
was covered with a primeval forest. In 1840 he induced 
his sons-in-law, Selden T. and James Scranton and their 
kinsman Colonel George W. Scranton, to join him in 
erecting the first blast furnace on the site of Scranton, 
and named it Harrison, in honor of General William 
Henry Harrison the then candidate of the Whig Party 
for President of the United States. The name of the 
town was afterwards changed to Scrantonia, and finally 
to Scranton, now the third city in point of wealth and 
population in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His- 
tory must always regard Henry as its real founder. 

3 



i8 The Life of William Henry. 

Following his marriage to a white woman of 
excellent parentage, he was assigned to labor 
among the Indians of Alaska. They have 
several children, all of whom, as in all preced- 
ing generations, both on the male and female 
line, bear the middle name of Henry. 




MRS. ANN HENRY, 

BY BENJAMIN WEST. 




CHAPTER III. 

His Marriage to Ann Wood. 

N January, 1755, William Henry 
at the age of 26 had the good for- 
tune to marry the clever and ad- 
mirable Ann Wood, daughter of 
Abraham Wood, formerly of Darby, Pa. As 
the tradition runs he met her at a tea-party 
given at his house by his widowed sister, Mrs. 
Mary Bickham, to which three young ladies 
were invited Including Miss Wood, and be- 
fore tea was served some time was passed in 
Henry's garden. In the meanwhile the latter 
had placed a broom In the hall in such a 
position as to obstruct the passage and then 
awaited their return. The first young woman 
to enter pushed the broom aside, the second 
stepped over it, and the third, who happened 
to be Miss Wood, picked it up and stood It in 
Its proper place. After they had gone Henry 
remarked to his sister, " Mary, the girl who 
picked up that broom loves order; she is the 
one I shall endeavor to win and marry." As 
It turned out he not only found her orderly, 
19 



20 The Life of William Henry. 

but a thrifty, singularly clear-headed woman 
of affairs, with an aptitude for administration 
not often found In her sex. 

After the death of her husband, which oc- 
curred while he still held the office of treasurer 
of the county, she assumed his duties and was 
subsequently appointed to fill out the remain- 
der of his term, serving four years thereafter, 
and retired with honor, the only recorded In- 
stance of a woman holding such an office in 
the annals of Pennsylvania. Among the Lan- 
caster County records we find this bill: The 
County of Lancaster to Ann Henry, one of 
the Executors of Wm. Henry late Treasurer 
of Lancaster Co. To my salary as Treasurer 
of the County of Lancaster for the year 1787, 
£18. 

During her Incumbency RIttenhouse was 
Treasurer of Pennsylvania, and in the fre- 
quent exchanges between the state and county 
there were many opportunities for observing 
Mrs. Henry's creditable administration. A 
letter addressed to her by RIttenhouse, in 
which he makes some precautionary sugges- 
tions relative to the disbursement of the public 
monies, will serve as an example of the cordial 
relations existing between them. 



The Life of William Henry. 21 

Philadelphia, November 5, 1789. 
Dear Madam: 

I have enclosed receipts for the money you last 
sent by the stage. By some accident it was neglected 
last week until the wagon was gone. I have not 
yet answered a letter I received of Mr. Jno. 
Joseph Henry respecting payment for servants en- 
listed. The Law Is I think still In force, but the 
business Is frequently managed so Irregularly that I 
think when you pay, the receipt ought to mention 
expressly that the money Is to be returned If the 
vouchers are not satisfactory to the Comptroller Gen- 
eral. I would advise you by no means to pay any 
orders of Orphans Court in favour of pensioners, 
widows of soldiers, officers or their children. These 
payments should be made on orders of Council only. 

Mrs. RIttenhouse Is very well. She gives her best 
respects to you. Our family has hitherto escaped the 
Influenza, so very common. I hope you have done 
the same. 

I am dear Madam your Affectionate Friend and 
Humble Servant 

D. RlTTENHOUSE.^ 

Mrs. Ann Henry. 

® David RIttenhouse, physicist and astronomer, born In 
Roxborough, Pa., now part of Philadelphia, April 8, 1732. 
In 1763 was employed in determining the Mason and 
Dixon's Line and afterwards fixed other state boundaries. 
In 1769 the American Philosophical Society appointed him 



22 The Life of William Henry. 

All her progenitors were substantial, well- 
educated English Quakers, strong adherents 
of Penn's propaganda. Her mother's maiden 
name was Ursula Taylor, a daughter of Philip 
Taylor, of Oxford Township, near Philadel- 
phia. Ann was born January 21, 1732, at 
Burlington, N. J., a posthumous child, whither 
her mother had removed after the death of 
her husband. Sometime later the widow mar- 
ried Joseph Rose, of the Lancaster bar, re- 
moving thither. It was here that Ann Wood 
became acquainted with William Henry. 
Her great-grandfather, George Wood, was 
one of the first settlers of Darby and served 
in the Assembly. Her grandfather, John 
Wood, married Jane Bevan, a daughter of 
John Bevan, an eminent Welsh Quaker and 
friend of William Penn, who came to Penn- 
sylvania in 1683 ^^^ took up a large part of 
what was known as the Welsh Tract, in Mont- 
gomery County, Pa., served on the local bench 
and in the Assembly, and was a convincing 
Quaker preacher. 

to observe the transit of Venus in Philadelphia; was 
treasurer of the State of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1779 ; 
in 1791 succeeded Franklin as president of the American 
Philosophical Society; Director of the U. S. Mint from 
1792 to 1795. Died in Philadelphia, June 26, 1796. 




THE COAT OF ARMS OF JOHN BEVAN 

QUARTERED WITH THE ROYAL ARMS OF ENGLAND. 



The Life of William Henry. 23 

Notwithstanding he had renounced the 
pomp and allurements of the world In join- 
ing the Society of Friends, he retained his ar- 
morial bearings, although he may have been 
Innocent of any desire to draw attention to his 
lineage, as to which there was some discussion, 
since his shield was quartered with the Royal 
Arms of England. 

In his '' Reminiscences " the Hon. John 
Joseph Henry, second son of William Henry, 
testifies to his mother's strong convictions, 
extensive reading and unusual cleverness, 
" and yet so tender hearted that of a truth It 
may be said of her, ' She knew no guile.' " 

Dr. William H. Egle, in " Some Pennsyl- 
vania Women During the War of the Revolu- 
tion," thus commemorates her patriotic devo- 
tion to the American cause : 

" She was a typical matron of that period, of great 
energy of character and in full sympathy with her 
husband's active and patriotic life. During that 
momentous period in our history, her children being 
young, required her attention, yet she entertained 
Rittenhouse and Paine when the British occupied 
Philadelphia, and it is well known that she aided 
her husband in all the various duties assigned to him, 



24 The Life of William Henry. 

as Treasurer of the County, State Armorer, Assist- 
ant Commissary General and Member of Congress. 
They were the parents of the distinguished John 
Joseph Henry who accompanied the expedition to 
Quebec under General Arnold, an account of which, 
the best ever written, was prepared by him." 

Mrs. Henry died March 8, 1799, and was 
laid by the side of her husband in the Mora- 
vian Cemetery in Lancaster. 

Colonel Henry's parents and grandparents 
had been members of the Church of England, 
but in the absence of a church of that denom- 
ination near their home in Chester County, 
his father and mother became Presbyterians, 
although they were not in harmony with the 
doctrine of reprobation. 

Mrs. Henry, however, whose antecedents 
were Quakers, and she herself one, was not in 
entire sympathy with the ostentatious ritual of 
the English Church, but had no wish to return 
to the Society of Friends as at one time sug- 
gested by her husband. Pending this spirit- 
ual unrest she met the wife of the clergyman 
of the Moravian Church, through whom she 
became an occasional attendant, and was so 
favorably impressed with its appealing sim- 
plicity, that she persuaded her husband to ac- 



The Life of William Henry. 25 

company her on an occasion when the eloquent 
Bishop Boehler was announced to preach; 
and thus it happened that both became Mora- 
vians in the summer of 1765, as are many 
of their descendants to this day. 




CHAPTER IV. 

William Henry, the Benefactor and 
First Patron of Benjamin West. 

HERE Is no Incident In William 
Henry's life that displays to 
greater advantage his generosity 
fQ and appreciation of genius than 
the encouragement and material assistance 
given Benjamin West at the very Inception of 
his career, and before he had really deter- 
mined upon art as a profession. 

Gait In his " Life of West,"^ a work In- 
spired by the artist and published In his Iffe 
time, thus speaks of Henry: 

" Henry was Indeed in several respects an extra- 
ordinary man, and possessed the power generally 
attended upon genius under all circumstances, that 
of interesting the imagination of those with whom 
he conversed." 

^"Life of Benjamin West," by John Gait, London, 
i8i6. In the preface Gait writes: "It was necessary that 
the narrative should appear in his own time in order that 
the authenticity of the incident might not rest upon the 
authority of any biographer." 
26 



The Life of William Henry. 27 

He further makes an appreciative acknowl- 
edgment of Henry's generous help and dis- 
criminating suggestions, and intimates that 
they were factors in determining West's 
career. 

Although Henry himself was not twenty- 
four when West first came under his observa- 
tion, an age when the pursuit of one's own 
happiness is apt to obscure all other consider- 
ations, his sympathies were at once aroused in 
behalf of the struggling genius. Opportu- 
nity alone seemed wanting. 

West was then about fifteen, a poor, unlet- 
tered tinsmith's apprentice, living in the 
nearby hamlet of Springfield, Pa., where he 
was wont to exhibit his undeveloped talent in 
decorating the fences and barndoors of the 
neighborhood with drawings, and by an oc- 
casional rude painting for a tavern sign- 
board. 

As the first to recognize in these maiden 
efforts genius of a high order. Colonel Henry 
invited the boy to his house, assigned a room 
to his use, and supplied the materials essential 
to his work. On the walls of this apartment 
were many little studies, that were permitted 
to remain until the house was demolished. 
Here West made a number of excellent at- 



28 The Life of William Henry. 

tempts at portraiture, of which two examples, 
Colonel Henry and Mrs. Henry, are In the 
possession of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Urged to loftier Ideals by Colonel Henry, 
he made his first attempt at historical paint- 
ing at the age of eighteen, choosing a subject 
suggested by his patron, namely the '' Death 
of Socrates." As West had never heard of 
the Grecian philosopher, Mr. Henry went to 
his library for a copy of Rollin's " Ancient 
History "^ and drew West's attention to the 
engraved frontispiece which depicts Socrates 
in prison, surrounded by a group of sympa- 
thetic followers and soldiers, in the act of tak- 
ing the poison from the hand of a slave. 
From this picture West drew his Inspiration, 
adding, however, many additional figures, 
that gave greater unity and balance to the 
composition. 

After making a preliminary study which 
he submitted to Mr. Henry, he confessed that 
never having had the opportunity to draw 
from the nude he was unable to accurately 

^ The engraving is the frontispiece of Vol. I., Rollin's 
" Ancient History," published in London and printed for 
John and Paul Knapton at the Crown in Liedgate St. 
MDCCXXXVIII. 




THE IDENTICAL ENGRAVING FROM ROLLIN'S ANCIENT 

HISTORY, THAT INSPIRED WEST'S " DEATH OF SOCRATES." 



The Life of William Henry. 29 

portray the half draped figure of the slave. 
In this dilemma Mr. Henry sent to his factory 
for a young man who came from the forge 
bared to the waist, whose fine physique served 
as a model. 

The identical volume, as well as the paint- 
ing, are now in the possession of a descendant 
of Col. Henry.^ The canvas, which measures 
about thirty by forty-five inches, is a memor- 
able performance for a boy of less than eigh- 
teen, unread in history, who had never re- 
ceived an hour's elementary instruction in, nor 
beheld a meritorious work of art, contem- 
porary or medieval and was not even ac- 
quainted with the process of preparing his 
own canvas. 

Gait writes of this epoch in West's life : 

*' Among those helpful to him In his early career 
was William Henry, of Lancaster, who had acquired 
a handsome fortune by his profession of a gunsmith. 
On examining the young Artist's performances, he 
observed that If he could paint as well, he would 
devote himself to historical subjects, and he men- 
tioned the ' Death of Socrates.' The painter knew 
nothing of the life of the philosopher, and upon con- 
fessing his Ignorance, Mr. Henry read to him the 

^ Granville Henry, Esq., of Boulton, Pennsylvania. 



30 The Life of William Henry. 

account given of this affecting story, from Rollin's 
' Ancient History.' 

" The suggestion and description wrought upon the 
imagination of West, and induced him to make a 
drawing, which he showed to Mr. Henry, who com- 
mended it, and requested him to paint it. West 
said that he would be happy to undertake the task, 
but, having hitherto painted only faces and men 
clothed, he was unable to do justice to the figure of 
the slave who presented the poison, and which he 
thought ought to be naked. Henry had among his 
workmen a very handsome young man, and, without 
waiting to answer the objection, sent for him. On 
his entrance he pointed him out to West and said 
* There is your model.' The appearance of the 
young man, whose arms and breast were bare, in- 
stantly convinced the artist that he had only to look 
into nature for his models. 

" When the ' Death of Socrates ' was finished it 
attracted much attention,^*^ and led to one of those 
fortunate acquaintances by which the subsequent 
career of the artist has been so happily facilitated."^^ 

Realizing that the colonies offered abso- 
lutely no opportunity for the study of art, 
West decided to pursue his studies abroad, 
and in 1760 sailed for England. 

" A contemporary writer declares that the picture at 
once established his reputation. 
"Gait, pp. 48, 49, 50 and 51. 



The Life of William Henry. 31 

Before his departure he had the pleasure 
of meeting Mr. Henry in Philadelphia, of 
whom Gait, commenting on this incident, 
writes ; 

"While waiting till the vessel was clear to sail, 
West had the gratification to see In Philadelphia 
his old friend Mr. Henry, for whom he had painted 
the * Death of Socrates.' Towards him he always 
cherished the most grateful affection. He was the 
first who urged him to attempt historical composi- 
tion; and above all, he was the first who made him 
acquainted with the magnanimous tales of Plutarch, 
perhaps the greatest favor which could be conferred 
on a youthful mind." 

Col. Henry never ceased to take the deepest 
interest in West's rise to eminence. He 
named his youngest son in his honor, Ben- 
jamin West Henry, who studied under Gil- 
bert Stuart and became an artist of no mean 
ability, and when West succeeded Reynolds 
as president of the Royal Academy, he in- 
vited his namesake to visit him in London, 

In the year 1838, Colonel John Trumbull, 
one of Washington's youthful aides, who had 
studied under West in London, and whose 



32 The Life of William Henry. 

paintings adorn the Capitol at Washington 
and the Trumbull gallery in Boston, made a 
special journey from New York to Boulton, 
Pa., the home of Mr. James Henry^^ (who 
had inherited the " Socrates " by descent), to 
look upon the first historical work of his 
honored preceptor. In the absence of Mr. 
Henry his family entertained Col. Trumbull, 
who left a card upon which he wrote: "Mr. 
Trumbull is highly gratified by the sight of 
' Socrates ' painted by his friend and master, 
Mr. West." 

Subsequently, Mr. Henry called upon Col- 
onel Trumbull in New York, and in discussing 

^^ James Henry, a great-grandson of William Henry, 
of Lancaster, was born in Philadelphia, October 13, 1809. 
In 1822 removed to Boulton, Pa., with his parents, where 
his grandfather, William Henry, Jr., had erected a gun 
works, and where a few years later he entered into part- 
nership with his father, John Joseph Henry, in the man- 
ufacture of arms. 

James Henry was a patron of literature, contributing as 
well essays and critical articles to Dwight's " Journal 
of Music," the leading paper devoted to that art in Boston, 
and to the " Crayon " and " Literary World " both pub- 
lished in New York City, his essays covering a wide 
range of thought. 

In 1859 he published "Moravian Life and Character," 
an appreciation, after years of study, of the history, re- 
ligious works and lyrics of that denomination. He died 
June 14, 1895. 



The Life of William Henry. 33 

the place West occupied In the world of art, 
Col. Trumbull remarked that In all his stud- 
ies in continental Europe he had never seen 
a work of the same character that exceeded In 
merit the '' Death of Wolfe." 




CHAPTER V. 

Sails for England, Captured by French 
Privateer and Landed in Spain; 
Reaches England, Meets Watts and 
Becomes Interested in His Experi- 
ments. 

N the year 1759, the firm of Simon 
& Henry was dissolved, where- 
upon Hendry determined to visit 
Europe for the purpose of estab- 
lishing direct connections with the foreign 
iron and steel makers. Having provided 
himself with letters of introduction from the 
Rev. Dr. Barton, rector of St. James Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in Lancaster, to 
friends in England, he sailed from Philadel- 
phia in December, 1760, on the good ship 
" Friendship," commanded by the popular 
Captain Nathaniel Falconer, bound for Lon- 
don. He paid the latter for his passage the 
sum of twenty-five pounds, for which a re- 
ceipted bill is preserved among Henry's 
papers. 

In that day every voyage was an event, and 
34 



The Life of William Henry. 35 

they who ventured to ''go down to the sea 
in ships " — if we may call the cockle shell of 
that period a ship — were little less than 
heroes. 

Unfortunately his autobiographical sketch 
written with his own hand in the German 
language which he had acquired, gives no ac- 
count of the interesting minor details of his 
life on ship board. He does say, however, 
that there were but two other passengers, a 
man and a woman, members of the Society of 
Friends, returning to England after visiting 
the meetings in New Jersey and Pennsylvania 
in a ministerial capacity, and from his nota- 
tions it is evident Henry was profoundly im- 
pressed with their piety. 

As ill luck v/ould have it, as the ship en- 
tered the English Channel, on the very thresh- 
old of England, she was captured by a 
French privateer, France and England being 
at war, and taken into a Spanish port. As 
here, again, Henry has failed to give an ac- 
count of his capture and release, we must be 
satisfied with his simple statement, that after 
a delay of several months he reached London 
and obtained lodgings in the family of the 
Quaker minister whose wife was one of his 



36 The Life of William Henry. 

fellow passengers and whom he had assisted in 
getting back to her home. 

He found the public mind in England agi- 
tated over the attempt of Watts to utilize 
steam as a motive power, and as Henry had 
made some experiments of his own in the same 
direction as early as 1760, the discussions 
greatly interested him. He met Watts, was 
courteously received and shown his steam 
engine in operation, from which Henry con- 
ceived the idea, which he afterwards perfected, 
of applying steam power to boats on our in- 
land rivers. 

Having satisfactorily consummated his busi- 
ness he sailed from Portsmouth the latter part 
of November, 1761, and after a rough pas- 
sage of forty-two days arrived in Philadel- 
phia before the end of the year, and proceeded 
to his home. 




CHAPTER VI. 

Inventor and Man of Science. Is the 

First to Apply Steam to Marine 

Navigation. 

S the first to apply steam to marine 
navigation ; in other words, as the 
inventor of the steamboat, erro- 
neously credited to Fitch, Henry 
must always occupy a prominent niche in the 
history of scientific achievement. His career 
In its many parallel incidents recalls his con- 
temporary Franklin. Both were self-taught, 
they had the same love for scientific research, 
and the gift of mechanical invention ; and both 
dedicated their lives to the service of the state. 
Henry's recreative hours were spent in his 
laboratory, where It was his pleasure to dis- 
course on the scientific questions of the day; 
and It was there that Mrs. Henry met Joseph 
Priestley whose " superlative attainments " 
as she expressed it, in other branches of science 
she greatly admired, but could not acquiesce 
to his theology ; and it was there also that the 
German traveller Schoepff found Henry In 
37 



38 The Life of William Henry. 

1784^^ experimenting, not alone with steam as 
a motive power, but delving into the more 
subtle realms of electricity and magnetism.^^ 
In 1767 he became a member of the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society, founded by Frank- 
lin, whose signature is attached to his certi- 
ficate of membership; taking his seat on the 
same evening with his life-long friend, David 
Rittenhouse. Although Franklin's activities 
in the field of diplomacy and as agent abroad 
of the State of Pennsylvania made long ab- 
sences from the country necessary, so that they 
met infrequently, he knew and appreciated 
Henry's scientific attainments. Owing to the 
latter's unobtrusive temperament the knowl- 
edge of his achievements may have been con- 
fined to a restricted circle, but none knew 

" " During the Revolution the House of Mr. Henry was 
a place of resort for men of culture and intellectual 
standing. The host being a man of acknowledged ability 
and well-known reputation, naturally attracted others of 
like grade around him." From Harris's " Biographical 
History of the Eminent Men of Lancaster County, Penn- 
sulvania." 

^''Extract from the minutes of the American Philosoph- 
ical Society: "1789, April 17, 21 members present, Frank- 
lin presiding. A memoir ' On the effects of heat in 
conducting the Electric Fluid and explaining the phe- 
nomena of thunder the Aurora Borealis, etc.,' by the late 
William Henry of Lancaster, was read." 



The Life of William Henry. 39 

better than Rittenhouse the qualities of 
Henry's mind and his undoubted genius. 

Philadelphia, February 24, 1776. 
Dear Sir: 

A second volume of the transactions of our Philo- 
sophical Society is now in the press and in good for- 
wardness. It will be a neat and valuable book; 
have you not something to communicate which you 
would wish to have inserted? I have the honor 
to be 

Your obedient and humble servent, 

David Rittenhouse. 
To William Henry, Esq., 
Lancaster, Pa., 

Henry was a charter member of the Juliana 
Library of Lancaster, founded 1759, one of 
the first circulating libraries in the country (as 
was also the father of Robert Fulton) ; for a 
time Its librarian, and gave a room In his 
house for the storage of its books. He de- 
vised labor-saving machines that were helpful 
In his gun works; Is credited with the inven- 
tion of the screw augur, ^^ invented a system 

^^ For a detailed account of the invention of this indis- 
pensable tool by William Henry, the reader is referred to 
Ree's "Encyclopedia" published in New York in 1820, 



40 The Life of William Henry. 

of steam heating suggesting that now in 
vogue, and constructed a steam wheel which 
had he lived would have been converted into 
a steam carnage, and from the latter to a 
locomotive engine requires no extravagant 
flight of the imagination. 

But his claim to an enduring fame as an 
inventor must rest with his successful appli- 
cation of steam to the propulsion of vessels. 

Dr. Robert H. Thurston, late director of 
the department of mechanical engineering, 
Cornell University, in his '* Life of Robert 
Fulton," pays a well-deserved tribute to 
Henry's genius and credits him with the honor 
of inventing and building the first steamboat. 
His appreciative sketch compiled from fugi- 
tive accounts of Henry's life, would, however, 
have been amplified had he had access to " the 
Colonial Records," the published " Archives 
of Pennsylvania," the collections in the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania,^^ and to 

vol. I, page 15. The length of the article, which covers 
some five or eight octavo pages, makes its reproduction 
here prohibitory. 

"The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has several 
folio volumes of letters to and from Col. Henry, and his 
accounts with the state and colonial governments. 



The Life of William Henry. 41 

material in possession of his descendants.^^ 
He would have learned, as we have, that he 
was not unknown to fame. Indeed it is com- 
mon knowledge, handed down from genera- 
tion to generation, that his many and engross- 
ing activities in other directions, and his 
premature death at fifty-seven alone pre- 
vented the complete development of his plans 
for the utilization of steam. 

We reproduce from the Transactions of the 
American Philosophical Society of 1768, with- 
out abbreviation on account of its importance, 
a communication from William Henry, de- 
scribing his invention of a so-called sentinel- 
register, the motive power of which was 
steam. The reader will observe that it had 
been in successful operation for over a year, 
i.e., previous to 1767. 

Here we have the unimpeachable evidence 
that Henry, if not the very first, was certainly 
among the first to apply steam as a motive 
power for any purpose on this continent. 

One has but to read his explanatory note 
to realize his thorough grasp of the principle 

" Mr. Granville Henry, of Boulton, Pa., great-great- 
grandson of William Henry, has a collection of letters 
covering the entire period of the Revolution, from prom- 
inent actors in that struggle, to his distinguished ancestor. 



42 The Life of William Henry. 

governing the elasticity of the air and the 
power to be derived from its expansion, a 
scientific truth then in its infancy. 

We have every reason to believe, however, 
that from the point of view of the financier, 
essentially Colonel Henry's sphere, he re- 
garded its application to marine propulsion as 
promising great financial returns, and with the 
hope of attaining that end, applied himself to 
Its solution, of which his steam wheel and 
sentinel-register were but subsidiary experi- 
ments. 



rig I 




THE SENTINEL REGISTER, 

A STEAM MACHINE INVENTED BY WILLIAM HENRY, 1767. 



The Life of William Henry. 



5?t 



S r< ^^' '""^^S ^^^^^S^ 




THE 

TRANSACTIONS 

O F T H E 

American Philofophical SOCIETY, &c. 



A defcription of a SELF-MOVING or SY.^- 
TINELREGlSTER,f>^^«/^-:/4y William Hen- 
ry, of Lancafler, and hy him communicated to the 
American Society, held at Philadelphia,/(7r/>r^- ' 
moting USEFUL Knowledge. 

The machine consists of the following parts: 

1. A, A Door or common register, applied in the 
flue of a furnace. The door is fitted in a frame, 
and made to slide easily up and down. 

2. B, A Balance or beam, moving on a center; 
the two arms are of unequal lengths, the longer ex- 
ceeding the shorter in the proportion of 2 to i ; the 
extremity of each arm Is formed into a segment of 



44 The Life of William Henry. 

a circle, whose radius is equal in length to each 
respective arm. These segments must be equal to 
the greatest rise or fall of each end of the balance 
when in use. 

The length of the whole beam or balance must 
be regulated by the situation of the register A, and 
the copper C, hereafter mentioned. 

3. C, A Copper vessel, about 13 inches diameter, 
and 10 inches deep, with a double bottom and 
sides, which are placed about an inch and a half 
apart from each other, leaving a space between to 
contain air. The top or cover is brazed on, and 
the whole made air-tight. Through the top is in- 
serted a brass cock, and also a brass or copper cylin- 
der, open at both ends, about 2 inches and a quarter 
in diameter, and 2 feet long, so fixed as to rise 14 
inches above the top, and to reach near to the bot- 
tom of the vessel. 

Through the side of the innermost vessel, near the 
top, are some holes made, whereby the air in the 
cavity between the two bottoms and sides, may com- 
municate with the air in the inside of the vessel. 

4. D, A Phial 2 inches diameter, and 7 inches 
deep, corked and sealed, with a hook fixed in the 
cork, by which the phial is to be suspended. 

These are the principal parts of the machine, 
which are to be applied as follows, 

From the furnace let there be an horizontal flue, 
of a convenient length. In the walls of the flue, 



The Life of William Henry. 45 

the frame, In which the register slides, is fixed 
perpendicularly, so that when the register is down, 
the flue is closed, when the register is drawn up, the 
flue is opened, and the higher it is raised, the more 
is the passage of the fire enlarged. 

To the shorter end of the balance, which is 
supported on a proper fulcrum, at a convenient 
heighth, the register is suspended by a chain and a 
rod ; the chain is just long enough to wind over the 
segment of the circle, at the end of the beam. The 
register is made so heavy, as to descend by its own 
weight. 

At the distance of 2, 3, or more feet from the reg- 
ister, and on the flue of the furnace, the copper 
vessel C is fixed, so as to receive a heat from the 
fire passing through the flue. The end of the long- 
est arm of the balance extends directly over the 
cylinder fixed in the copper, and to it the phial D is 
suspended, so as to hang within the tube, and by 
such a length of chain and rod as will allow it to be 
about 2 or 3 inches immersed in the tube, when the 
balance is an equilibrio. On the same end of the 
beam on which the phial Is suspended, a weight is 
hung sufficient, with the weight of the phial, to 
over balance the register, and raise it, and conse- 
quently open the flue. When the flue is opened to 
a due degree, the register is held in that situation, 
until so much water is poured into the copper 
through the cock, as will fill one-third of the vessel ; 



46 The Life of William Henry. 

then shut the cock, and pour water into the cylinder, 
until it rises high enough to float the phial. By 
pouring water into the cylinder, the air in the vessel 
is compressed, and finding no way to escape, as the 
vessel is air-tight, it resists the water, and prevents 
its occupying the whole space; and therefore the 
upper part of the vessel is apparently empty. The 
phial is loaded with shot, so that it will swim about 
one third above the water. When the water rises in 
the tube, the phial rises with it, in which case the 
register A is so balanced, that it descends, and 
closes the flue. 

After this description, the principles on which the 
Sentinel-Register acts, must be obvious to every 
person acquainted with the elasticity of the air, and 
that this elasticity is encreased by heat. For when 
the fire in the furnace is increased, the degree of 
heat in the flue is also increased; this increases the 
elasticity of the air contained between the double 
bottom and sides of the copper, and consequently 
of that, which occupies the space above the water, 
as there is a communication by means of the holes 
already described. The elasticity of the air being 
increased it expands, and by its expansion forces the 
water up the tube; the water being raised, carries 
the phial with it, whereupon the register preponder- 
ating descends, closes the flue, and by lessening the 
draught of the chimney or flue, deadens or checks 
the fire in the furnace. By this means again the 



The Life of WIlHam Henry. 47 

heat in the flue is diminished, the air in the cavity- 
becomes cooler, and consequently less elastic, where- 
upon the water descends In the tube, and with it the 
phial to its stationary point. By the descent of the 
phial the register Is raised, and opens the flue; by 
which means It stands as a Sentinel over the fire, and 
preserves an equal degree of heat. 

That this will be the effect of the machine, I can 
attest, having used It for more than a year. 

It Is submitted to the curious, whether this ma- 
chine might not be usefully applied, 1st, to regulate 
the heat of chymlcal and alchymlcal furnaces, where 
long digestions, and a uniform degree of heat are 
required; 2dly, in the making of steel, and in burn- 
ing of porcelain ware. In which a due regulation of 
the fire is of great Importance; 3dly, In green or hot 
houses, and In apartments for hatching chickens, 
according to the Egyptian method. With a little 
alteration It might be applied to the purpose of open- 
ing doors, w^Indows, and other passages, for a 
draught of air, and thereby preserve a due tempera- 
ture of the air In hospitals, &c. 

Dr. Thurston further declares In his " Life 
of Fulton " : 

" Many other Inventors were now studying the 
problem of steam as a motive power In different 
parts of the civilized world. Among these, none 



48 The Life of William Henry. 

were as ingenious or as persistent or as successful 
as those of the then British Colonies, later the 
United States of America. Among these was a 
group of New York and Pennsylvania Mechanics 
who, seemingly each more or less familiar with the 
work of the others, struggled on persistently, and 
finally successfully. A nucleus consisting of one of 
these men and his friends and coadjutors, became, 
ere long, the germ of the great movement which 
in the early part of the nineteenth century resulted 
in the final application of the powers of steam to 
the propulsion of steam vessels, — first on the rivers 
of the, United States and the harbours of Great 
Brintain, then on all the oceans. The Originator 
of this sudden movement in the United States seems 
to have been a man unknown to fame, and one of 
whom few records are preserved. Our own infor- 
mation, hitherto unpublished, comes from an indis- 
tinctly traced source; but its facts have been fairly 
well verified by independent historical investigation. 
"William Henry was born in Chester County, 
Penn., in the year 1729 his father, John Henry, 
with his parents, and two brothers — Robert and 
James^^— emigrated to this country from the north 
or Ireland in or about the year 17 19 or 1720. The 
father of James, Robert and John was a native of 

^^ Robert and James Henry married sisters named Mary 
Ann and Sarah Davis, who resided in Chester County. 
Robert subsequently removed to Virginia. 



• I 



The Life of William Henry. 49 

Scotland, but for a short time previous to his com- 
ing to this country had resided in one of the northern 
counties of Ireland. Upon the arrival of the fam- 
ily in Pennsylvania they settled in Chester County, 
where, as before stated, the subject of our sketch was 
born. At an early age he became a resident of Lan- 
caster, Penn., where he learned the business of a 
gunsmith, and in a few years became the principal 
gunsmith in the province. During the Indian wars 
which desolated Pennsylvania from 1755 to 1760, 
he was appointed principal armourer of the troops 
then called into service. 

" In the year 1760 he visited England. Having a 
mechanical turn of mind, the inventions and the 
application of steam by Watt being then much dis- 
cussed, the idea of its application to the propelling 
of boats, vehicles, etc., so engrossed his mind that on 
his return to his home in Lancaster he began the 
construction of a machine, the motive power of 
which was steam. In 1763 Mr. Henry completed 
the machine, which was attached to a boat with 
paddles, and with it he experimented on the Cones- 
toga River, near Lancaster but the boat, a stern 
wheeler, was structurally weak and unable to resist 
the pounding action of the engine. 

" This was the first attempt that ever had been 
made to apply steam to the propelling of boats. 
Notwithstanding the ill luck that attended the first 
attempt in an undertaking of the practicability of 

5 



50 The Life of William Henry. 

which he had not the least doubt, he constructed a 
second model, with Improvements on the first." 

Doctor Thurston continues: 

" An intelligent German, Herr Schoepff, who trav- 
elled through the United States In 1 783-1 784 whilst 
staying for a time in Lancaster, became aquainted 
with Mr. Henry. He says: 'I was shown a ma- 
chine by Mr. Henry, intended for the propelling of 
boats, etc., " but," said Mr. Henry, " I am doubtful 
whether such a machine would find favor with the 
public, as every one considers it impracticable to 
make a boat move against wind and tide " ; but that 
such a boat will come into use, and navigate on the 
waters of the Ohio and Mississippi he had not the 
least doubt, though the time had not yet arrived of 
its being appreciated and applied. I omit to men- 
tion other electrical and magnetic experiments which 
occupy Mr. Henry's leisure hours, in an agreeable 
and useful manner, all of which indicate him to be 
a gentleman of refined mind and deep study.' 

"A sketch of the machine with the boilers, etc., 
made by Mr. Henry in 1779, is said to be still in the 
possession of his heirs. 

"John Fitch (for whom his biographer claimed the 
honour of the inventiion of the application of steam 
to the propulsion of boats) was a frequent visitor at 
Mr. Henry's house, and according to the belief of 
his friends obtained from him the idea of the steam- 



The Life of William Henry. 51 

boat. Fulton, then a j^oung lad, also visited Mr. 
Henry to examine the paintings of Benjamin West; 
and the germ that subsequently ripened into the 
construction of the ' Folly ' was possibly due to those 
visits.^^ 

"William Henry, though unsuccessful with the 
experiments with his first boat on the Conestoga 
River, thus very probably originated the idea of the 
steamboat at least five years before Fulton was born. 
The following extract may throw some light on the 
subject :^^ 

''Dec. 2nd., 1785. At a special meeting of the 

'^Mrs. Alice Crary Sutcliffe, a great-granddaughter of 
Fulton, in her " Robert Fulton and the Clermont " pub- 
lished by the Century (^ompany, 1909, under the heading 
" Early Experiments of William Henry and John Fitch " 
remarks: "Fulton must have already been familiar with 
some of the early attempts toward steam navigation, 
through his Lancaster townsman, William Henry." 

^ The Lancaster " Pathfinder " contains the following 
item in one of its numbers for 1858: "Immediately op- 
posite the home of William Henry was the residence of 
Robert Fulton's father (the same building which is now 
owned by Mr. Emmanuel Shaffer and Mr. Abraham 
Erenannen) at this time, 1777, Robert Fulton was twelve 
years of age and between school hours was a daily visitor 
at Mr. Henry's works, aiding and assisting him in mak- 
ing astronomical and m.athematical instruments for the 
famed mathematician, astronomer and philosopher, David 
Rittenhouse, of Germantown, Philadelphia. Is it any 
wonder that in 1749, when West was eleven years of 
age and in 1777 when Fulton was just twelve, that the 



52 The Life of William Henry. 

Philosophical Society, John Fitch was personally 
presented to the members. Desirous of having the 
opinion of men of weight at that period, he con- 
sulted several, among whom was Mr. Henry, of 
Lancaster, ' Who Informed me,' says Fitch, ' that 
he was the first person who had thought of applying 
steam to vessels; that he had conversed with Mr. 
Paine, author of " Common Sense " and some time 
after wl<th Mr. EUIcott.' Mr. Henry, thinking 
more seriously of the matter, was of the opinion that 
It might be perfected, and accordingly made some 
drafts, which he laid before the American Philo- 
sophical Society."^^ 

^ After the death of William Henry in 1786, 
a controversy arose between Mr. James Rum- 
sey of Virginia, who had also invented a 
steamboat (afterwards found to be impracti- 
cable), and John Fitch, as to their respective 
claims to priority. Referring to Rumsey's 
claim. Fitch makes the acknowledgment that 
" although Rumsey might claim precedence, 
as far as he was concerned, Mr. Henry was 
long before Rumsey in making a draft and 
preparing a model of a Steam Boat, although 
he did not publically announce it." 

master mind of the noble citizen William Henry, Esq., 
did arouse and excite to action the natural genius of West 
and Fulton? " 
"^ " Inventor's Guide," by J. G. Moore. 



The Life of William Henry. 53 

Subsequently Mrs, Henry in behalf of 
Fitch's claim, made affidavit to the year when 
he visited her husband. She also mentions 
that the latter intended to submit his model to 
the American Philosophical Society, often 
made the depository of new Inventions, long 
before his death. The document which fol- 
lows will be found in the United States Patent 
Office Report for 1849-50. . 

This is to certify that Mr. John Fitch called upon 
William Henry, Esquire, my late husband in his 
life time, about two years and a half since (1785), 
when Mr. Fitch showed to him drafts and a model 
of a machine to propel a boat through the water; 
and further, that I have frequently heard of Mr. 
Henry applying steam as a means to urge boats 
through the water by force of it, and that he had 
proposed laying a model of a machine for that pur- 
pose before the Philosophical Society long before 
Mr. Fitch called upon him. 

Witness my hand this 12th day of May 1788. 

Ann Henry. 
Test. Jno. Jos. Henry. 

It thus appears that Fitch's biographer is 
culpably misleading In his Indirect and half- 
hearted acknowledgment of his indebtedness 
to Henry. 



54 The Life of William Henry. 

In the absence of accurate information even 
Dr. Thurston's account of Fitch's interview 
with Henry, although essentially correct in 
its minor details, differs in one very important 
omission, namely, when Fitch, who was on 
his way to Kentucky to develop his land pur- 
chase, called upon Henry at his home in Lan- 
caster in 1785, Henry ingenuously permitted 
him to examine his perfected model; at the 
same time he took the opportunity of inform- 
ing Fitch that he had experimented with his 
steamboat as early as 1760, and had discussed 
its possibilities, particularly as to its ability to 
make headway against wind and tide, with 
Andrew Ellicott, and later with Thomas 
Paine who had considerable mechanical inge- 
nuity, in 1778; but added, with that modesty 
which was characteristic of him, coupled with 
an unwillingness to inflict an injury, even 
though it recoiled upon himself, that as he 
(Fitch) had proclaimed his invention to the 
world, he would not claim it.^^ 

Dr. Thurston thus concludes his summary 
of Henry's connection with the invention of 
the steamboat. 

^^ From records in the possession of Col. Henry's descen- 
dants. 



The Life of William Henry. 55 

" Fitch evidently made the first successful experi- 
ment in the propelling of boats by steam; but 
William Henry had probably the honour of origina- 
ting the idea, and building the first steamboat ever 
built in the United States. Fitch improved on Mr. 
Henry's model, and Fulton improved on both. 

"Thus a group of alert, intelligent, enterprising 
men, in this little town, were all interested in the 
solution of a new problem. 

" So much progress had been made that the out- 
come could hardly be doubted. Papin had, early in 
the eighteenth century, actually built a steamboat; 
Jonathan Hulls in I737 secured British patents 
on another form; William Henry had put his little 
boat on the Conestoga River in 1 763 ; the Conte d' 
Auxi.ron had launched a steamboat on French waters 
in 1774; ten years later Oliver Evans and James 
Rumsey came forward with their peculiar systems of 
propulsion ; and John Fitch appeared about the same 
date, 1785. 

" Fulton was born at Little Britain, Lancaster 
County, Penn., in 1765. He was of Irish descent, 
his father having come from Kilkenny when quite 
a young man. The Fultons had, although living 
in the then wilderness, distinguished families for 
their neighbours. The family of Benjamin West 
lived in the adjacent county; and the home of 
William Henry, close by, was a rendezvous for 
many interesting and stimulating acquaintances and 
a most enjoyable society." 




CHAPTER VII. 

Enters Public Life and Espouses Ameri- 
can Cause. 

OLLOWING Colonel Henry's re- 
turn from Europe there was an 
uneventful interregnum, during 
which he resumed the direction of 
his gun works, gathered up the threads of his 
neglected scientific investigations, and was 
honored with civil appointments by the state 
and county. 

While in no sense a politician, his name 
Invariably came up for consideration as one 
whose unswerving Integrity and intelligent 
grasp of affairs made him available for the 
highest honors in the gift of his townsmen; 
and by steady gradations he became one of 
Pennsylvania's distinguished representatives. 
He was Assistant Burgess of Lancaster con- 
tinuously from 1765 to 1775, but what may 
be called his first entry into public life, was his 
appointment by the Assembly in 177 1 a 
Canal Commissioner. 

To her honor be it said, Pennsylvania was 
56 



• » 



The Life of William Henry. 57 

one of the first of the colonies to consider the 
subject of internal improvements, and to her 
belongs the credit of seriously contemplating 
an inland waterway as early as 1762. Under 
the act creating the commission it was in- 
structed to " examine the different branches 
of the Susquehanna, Schuylkill and Lehigh 
Rivers, to measure by the most direct course 
and distance between them, to observe the soil 
and other circumstances in the intermediate 
country and report how far the said waters are 
and may be navigable up the branches thereof, 
and whether the opening and communication 
between them for the purpose of navigation 
or land carriage be practicable." 

On September 24, 1771, the commission, 
v/hich was composed of John Sellers, Ben- 
jamin Lightfoot and Joseph Elliott, reported 
to the Assembly, whereupon Lightfoot re- 
signed and William Henry was appointed in 
his place. On January 18, 1772, Samuel 
Rhodes and Surveyor General Lukens were 
added to the commission, and two v/eeks later 
David Rittenhouse. 

Thus Henry pursued the even tenor of his 
active life until the distant rumbling of the 
storm about to break over the colonies aroused 
his patriotic spirit. 



58 The Life of William Henry. 

We are fortunate in having at our com- 
mand the journal of a Lancaster chronicler of 
Revolutionary events from which we shall 
draw liberally in noting Colonel Henry's con- 
nection with that stirring period. Thus, when 
It was seen that a conflict was Inevitable, Lan- 
caster assumed an Importance and bustle quite 
foreign to Its usual air of peaceful serenity. 
Many Phlladelphlans rented houses there to 
escape the vicissitudes of the war, and later 
it became the seat of the state government, 
and the depot, from Its position and affluence 
the most important in the colonies, for every 
description of war material. When the news 
came of the clash between the militia and the 
British at Lexington and Concord on April 
19, 1775, It set the town aflame. 

Amid these exciting scenes no one was more 
actively engaged than Colonel Henry either 
In a civil or military capacity, and his promi- 
nence made his house the center of Interest for 
the patriotic of all classes, where the latest 
Information could be had of the military sit- 
uation. A sentinel paced before his door, offi- 
cers of the army were coming and going, and 
delegates to Congress and members of the 
Assembly mingled in the anxious and busy 
throng. 



The Life of William Henry. 59 

'' No man played a more conspicuous or 
Important part in our local history during the 
Revolution than William Henry. Nowhere 
was there a more ardent or more trusted pa- 
triot," writes Frank R. Diffenderffer, of Lan- 
caster, in his " The Story of a Picture." 




CHAPTER VIII. 

John Joseph Henry Joins Arnold's Ex- 
pedition Against Canada, is Taken 
Prisoner and Confined in Quebec. 

N view of what he saw and heard 
going on all about him and In 
an element so intensely patriotic, 
It was not surprising that among 
the young men of Lancaster to volunteer at 
the first call to arms was John Joseph Henry 
a youth not seventeen, the second son of Wil- 
liam Henry, who enlisted without his father's 
consent but with his mother's knowledge and 
assistance in Captain Smith's Company of 
Colonel Thompson's Battalion of Riflemen; 
and It Is said that when the Company was 
officially Inspected by Colonel Henry who 
went to Reading, Pa., for the purpose, his 
son's presence In the ranks was not discovered. 
Smith's Company was ordered to join Arnold 
at Cambridge, Mass., where the latter was 
drawing together a force for the invasion of 
Canada. 

On the eleventh of September, 1775, this 
60 




HON. JOHN JOSEPH HENRY, 

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER. 
PRESIDENT JUDGE OF THE 2D JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 



The Life of William Henry. 6i 

little army of eleven hundred men marched 
to Newberryport, Mass., where it embarked 
on transports and proceeded up the Kennebec 
River as far as Fort Western. Here it fol- 
lowed the Indian trails northward, blazing 
its way through an almost Impenetrable wil- 
derness and encountering incredible hardships. 
The weather was piercingly cold and the cloth- 
ing of the men afforded no protection against 
the rigors of a Canadian winter. Henry's In- 
ventory of his scanty outfit, which was better 
than most. Is almost grotesque In Its meagre- 
ness : 

" It consisted of a round-about jacket of wool, a 
pair of half-worn buckskin breeches, two pairs 
woolen stockings, a hat with a feather, a hunting 
shirt, deer skin leggings, a pair of moccasins and a 
pair of tolerably good shoes which had been closely 
horded." 

Many died from exposure, and one third of 
the command under Colonel Enos deserted 
under the pretence of a lack of provisions. 
Henry was among those who dropped from 
the ranks exhausted, and In recalling this in- 
cident, writes : " As I sank by the roadside, 
Arnold, who was riding in the rear of the 



62 The Life of William Henry. 

army, approached me, and having ascertained 
my condition — he knew my name and char- 
acter — dismounted, ran to the riverside and 
hailed the owner of a house which stood on 
the opposite bank. The good Canadian in 
his canoe quickly arrived and at Arnold's re- 
quest took me to his home, where after three 
days of generous treatment I recuperated suf- 
ficiently to rejoin the army;" but not before 
Henry had tried in vain to prevail upon his 
benefactor to accept two silver dollars, the 
last of his little horde. ^^ 

On the fourteenth of November the rem- 
nant of the army emerged from the wilder- 
ness and encamped under the walls of Que- 
bec, where it was subsequently joined by the 
forces under Montgomery, who took com- 
mand in the investment of the city. 

What followed is known to every student 
of American history. Through a series of 
unaccountable blunders, at the very moment 
when victory seemed assured, the expedition 
suffered a disastrous defeat. 

Early on the morning of December 31, 

^ Henry mentions meeting Aaron Burr on the march, 
who was a " cadet " on Arnold's staff. Burr was then 
about twenty-one years of age. 




THE MONASTERY OF ST. FRANCIS, QUEBEC, 

WHERE JOHN JOSEPH HENRY WAS CONFINED. 



The Life of William Henry. 63 

1775, in the midst of a driving snow storm 
an attempt was made to carry the city by as- 
sault. Leading an attack on the first barrier 
the gallant Montgomery fell mortally 
wounded and " after a display of the greatest 
valor," nine hundred Americans were made 
prisoners, young Henry among them. 

They were confined in the ruined monastery 
of St. Francis, an enormous building quite un- 
sulted to the purpose, which is still pointed out 
as the American prison. 

The horrors of that winter are graphically 
told by Henry in his account of the campaign. 
Here for nine months they suffered from inad- 
equate protection from the biting weather, as 
many of the rooms were without heat. Con- 
taminated water and Insufficient and improper 
food were additional factors that soon caused 
an outbreak of scurvy to which Henry was 
one of the first to succumb. Happily it can- 
not be charged that these conditions were the 
result of design, but to a want of preparation 
and to some indifference. 

As a prisoner Henry apparently fared 
better than his companions. His disposition 
was generous, his manner frank and engaging 
and he had the happy faculty of making 



64 The Life of William Henry. 

friends. His youth and unfortunate plight 
excited the commisseration of the comman- 
dant, General Sir Guy Carleton, and in Col. 
McDougal he discovered a friend whom he 
had met at his uncle's house in Detroit three 
years before, whose kindness helped to ameli- 
orate the hardships of his confinement. Cap- 
tain Prentice, who was in direct charge of the 
prisoners, was another from whom he re- 
ceived attentions that seemed prompted al- 
most by affection. 

After an ineffectual attempt to escape by 
a group of officers and including Henry, the 
offenders were ordered to be manacled. 
When it came to Henry's turn to have the 
irons riveted by the blacksmith Captain Pren- 
tice called out: '' Never mind that lad." He 
repeatedly pressed Henry to accept loans of 
money, offering to wait for repayment until he 
returned to his home, which, although the 
temptation was great, were gratefully de- 
clined. 

Early in August, 1776, Captain Prentice 
brought the welcome news that General Carle- 
ton had determined to send them by sea to 
New York, under parole, for exchange. Be- 
fore their departure Captain Prentice ob- 



The Life of William Henry. 65 

tained permission for Henry and his friend 
Boyd^"* to revisit the scene of their disastrous 
assault. 

On August 10 they set sail In five trans- 
ports, convoyed by H. M. Frigate " Pearl," 
Captain McKenzIe,^^ and after an unevent- 
ful voyage, arrived In New York Bay, Sep- 
tember II, anchored three miles south of 
Governor's Island, and witnessed the partial 
destruction of the city by fire. Here they ex- 
perienced a vexatious detention of several 
weeks on shipboard, from which they were 
not released until October i, when they were 
transferred to shallops, and after a dangerous 
pull across the bay of ten hours landed at 
Elizabethport, N. J., within the American 
lines. Words are Incapable of describing 

^ Boyd returned to the army, rose to the rank of Captain, 
and took part in Sullivan's Campaign against the Indians 
in 1779. Sent in advance with a reconnoitering party, they 
v>^ere ambushed. Boyd was taken prisoner, put to the 
torture, his body horribly mutilated, and in that condition 
forced to run the gauntlet before death came to his relief. 
His remains, which were scattered over a considerable 
area, were recovered and buried the day after the affair. 

^ Henry met Captain McKenzie's son, who was a British 
officer, in Quebec when he was a prisoner. They met 
again, which happened to be in Lancaster, where the 
fortunes of war had made McKenzie a prisoner. 

6 



66 The Life of William Henry. 

their manifestations of joy at their restora- 
tion to liberty. Many threw themselves upon 
the earth and wept! 

Walking through the town Henry, who 
was penniless, was recognized by a wagoner 
from Lancaster, who informed him that his 
parents had abandoned all hope of ever seeing 
him and from whom he accepted an unsoli- 
cited loan of two silver dollars. This god- 
send enabled him to join his companions, 
Colonel Nichols and Colonel Febiger, in char- 
tering a wagon that took them as far as 
Princeton, where they had the pleasure of call- 
ing on the eminent patriot and divine, Dr. 
Witherspoon, who entertained them. 

The next morning, finding it impossible to 
procure a conveyance, they managed though 
suffering much physical distress, to walk to 
Bristol, where they persuaded a farmer who 
had given them an excellent supper, to drive 
them to Philadelphia, arriving about two in 
the morning, and put up at the " Crown and 
Harp." Here they were among friends. 
With funds supplied by his kinsman, Mr. 
Owen Biddle, one of the Supreme Council of 
Safety, Henry exchanged his well-worn buck- 
skin leggings and moccasins for a civilian's 



The Life of William Henry. 67 

dress, the same day set off in the stage for 
Lancaster, and a day later was restored to the 
much needed care of his mother, after a year 
of almost continuous suffering. 

Immediately upon his return he was in- 
formed of his appointment to a lieutenancy 
in the army as a tribute of his heroism, fol- 
lowed soon after by an offer of a captaincy in 
the Virginia Line, through the influence of the 
gallant Colonel John Morgan, ^^ whose sol- ^ 

dierly qualities Henry emulated. Both prof- 
fers of a military life had to be declined. His 
wound, which had impaired the use of one of 
his legs so that he walked with a perceptible 
limp until his death, made the acceptance of 
either impossible. This was a staggering 
blow to all his hopes, and in his hours of 
suffering and despondency, self-destruction 
seemed to offer the only panacea. He was in 
the heydey of youth, in spirit chivalric, in 
temperament a soldier, believing that fame 
awaited him in a military career. 

Although it may be said that he regained 

^ At seventeen, Morgan was a wagoner in Braddock's 
army. Commanded a battalion of riflemen in Arnold's 
Quebec Expedition, was taken prisoner, rose to the rank 
of Brigadier General and elected to Congress. 



68 The Life of William Henry. 

his health his recovery was slow and discour- 
aging, and he was never afterwards robust. 

" He bound himself an apprentice to John Hubley, 
esq., Prothonotary of the county of Lancaster, as a 
clerk in the office for four years ; he pursued his busi- 
ness with the closest application, and discharged 
the duties of that office with unabated care and 
strictness, and when the labors of the day were 
over, his nights were consumed in study, endeavor- 
ing to make up in some measure for the neglect that 
his education had suffered by his becoming a 
soldier."^^ 

Entering the law office of Stephen Cham- 
bers, Esq., one of the leaders of the Lancaster 
County Bar, whose younger sister he after- 
wards married, he was admitted to practice in 
1785, and raised to the bench in 1793 by ap- 
pointment of Governor Mifflin, as President 
Judge of the Second Judicial District of Penn- 
sylvania, succeeding his father's friend. Judge 
Wm. Atlee,^^ his circuit consisting of the 
Counties of Chester, Lancaster, York and 

^^"A Biographical History of Lancaster County; being 
a History of the early Settlers and Eminent Men of the 
County, by Alexander Harris, Lancaster, Pa., Elias Barr 
& Co., 1872." 

^ Judge Atlee was the first president judge of the district 
under the new state government. Henry was the second. 



The Life of William Henry. 69 

Dauphin. His wounds breaking out afresh 
he retired in 18 10 after serving seventeen 
years, and died April 15, 18 11, in his fifty- 
second year, a beloved and honored gen- 
tleman. 

The only authentic account, ^^ indeed the 
only account of Arnold's memorable invasion 
of Canada, was given to the world by Judge 
Henry himself, who years after the event re- 
told the story at the request of his children. 
The little volume, to which he gave the title 
"The Campaign against Quebec" and dedi- 
cated to his daughter, was written with the 
aid of notes and memoranda while confined 
to his room with illness. It describes in sim- 
ple but effective words the hardships and suf- 
ferings of the band of heroes who traversed 
the wilderness of Maine from Cambridge to 
the St. Lawrence in the autumn of iJJS-^^ 
He was never able to revise the work, which 
was published by his widow in 18 12. 

^ A new biography, some additional notes and a good 
index were added to a second edition prepared by his 
grandson, Aubrey Henry Smith, Esq., of the Philadelphia 
bar and published in 1876. Both are out of print. 

^" Of this march through the wilderness a British author- 
ity remarks: "The Canadians viewed It with astonish- 
ment, but it served no good purpose," which was alas ! 
too true. 



70 The Life of William Henry. 

Of Henry's account Justin H. Smith 
writes : 

" A good many reports of the march have come to 
us from members of the expedition, besides various 
items and scraps from participants who did not 
write full accounts. Of all our first hand reports 
the one most commonly known and relied upon by 
those who have written on the subject is probably 
that of John Joseph Henry, one of the riflemen, 
who became in later life President of the Second 
Judicial District of Pennsylvania.^^ There are suffi- 
cient reasons for the vogue of this narrative. It is 
much more readable than most of them: it was 
published in book form as early as 1812, while few 
of the others got into print until many years later, 
or have ever come before the general public, and 
finally, the high character and standing of the author 
seemed to place the seal of truth upon its face."^^ 

^^ Judge Henry's son, Dr. Stephen Chambers Henry of 
Detroit, Michigan, served as surgeon in the war of 1812 
and was made prisoner at Hull's surrender of Detroit. 
He was eminent as a physician and filled many offices of 
honor and trust. 

^^ " Arnold's March from Cambridge to Quebec," by Jus- 
tin H. Smith, pp. 24-25. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Civil and Military Appointments, Au- 
thorized TO Manufacture Arms for 
THE Continental Army; Entertains 
John Hart, David Rittenhouse and 
Thomas Paine During British Occu- 
pation OF Philadelphia. 

OLONEL HENRY'S civil and 
military appointments were many 
and important. Indeed it is not 
surprising that he eventually sank 
under the weight of their exactions. He was 
first commissioned a Justice of the Peace in 
1758. At the age of thirty-six he was As- 
sistant Burgess of Lancaster, an office he filled 
continuously from 1765 to 1775. 

We have already learned that he was made 
Canal Commissioner in 1771. In 1774 he 
was appointed a member of the Committee of 
Observation. He was Justice of the Peace 
and Assistant Justice of the County Courts, 
during 1770, 1773 and 1777. 

71 




72 The Life of William Henry. 

In 1776 he was sent to the Assembly, and 
in 1777 was made one of the Council of 
Safety of Pennsylvania. 

In 1780 he was commissioned President 
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Quar- 
ter Sessions and Orphans' Court under the 
act of January 28, 1777, and in the same year 
he was sent as a delegate to the commission 
that met in Philadelphia in January to regu- 
late prices under the call of the meeting at 
Hartford of October 20, 1775. 

He became Treasurer of Lancaster County 
in 1777, for which he was unusually well 
qualified, and held that office until his death 
in 1785, the most critical years in its financial 
history. His noteworthy administration of 
its affairs was certainly not undertaken for its 
emoluments, which were never compensatory 
nor commensurate with its responsibilities, 
which the emergency had vastly expanded, 
covering as we shall learn, a wide field. In 
one of his letters to the Hon. Joseph Reed he 
mentions that his salary as Treasurer (£25 
per annum) would hardly cover the expenses 
of two journeys to Philadelphia. Evidently 
he did not consider the salary important, as 



The Life of William Henry. 73 

the County Records show that he permitted It 
to accumulate for six years, from 1779 to 
1784, and then drew It In a lump sum. 

His civil appointments terminated with his 
election by the Assembly to the Congress of 
1784-85-86. 

His military career dates from the begin- 
ning of the struggle, with the appointment of 
Assistant Commissary General and disbursing 
officer of the government for the District of 
Lancaster, where extensive orders for supplies 
were placed with the people of the surround- 
ing country; and In a larger sense was the 
trusted and confidential adviser of the Board 
of War and the civil authorities In matters 
pertaining to the maintenance of the army and 
the welfare of the State. 

From a careful examination of his volumi- 
nous and hitherto unpublished correspondence 
with the Board of War, the State officials and 
the generals of the army, the pervading senti- 
ment on his part is that of unswerving patriot- 
ism, and on theirs of unqualified confidence in 
his sagacity and executive ability. 

There are letters from Washington, Gates, 
Wayne, Hazen, " LIghthorse " Harry Lee, 



74 The Life of William Henry. 

Timothy Pickering and Benjamin Stoddart, 
setting forth the vital necessities of the army 
and soliciting his cooperation. There are 
others from the Board of War dating almost 
from the discharge of the first gun in the con- 
flict and ending only with the declaration of 
peace, all frought with historical interest; and 
those from the Honorable Joseph Reed throw 
additional light on the actions of that ma- 
ligned, but patriotic statesman. 

" All through the Revolution Henry was very ac- 
tive on the side of the Colonies, and his correspond- 
ence in 1779, as chairman of the Committee on the 
Supply and Regulation of the Flour market, shows 
him to have been a good writer and a shrewd prac- 
tical business man."^^ 

As Assistant Commissary General and fiscal 
agent he was clothed with large discretionary 
powers quite apart from the routine duties of 
his office. Among his multifarious responsi- 
bilities he engaged transportation and supplies 
of every description, and the arming of the 
troops. 

^'From Harris, "Biographical History of Lancaster 
County, Pennsylvania." 



The Life of William Henry. 75 

Thus, as soon as the startling intelligence 
reached Philadelphia that the British fleet 
with General Howe's army on board was 
sighted off the Delaware Capes, Thomas 
Wharton, Jr., president of the Board of War, 
despatched the following letter to William 
Henry : 

Philadelphia — 
In Council, July 31, 1777. 

Gentlemen : 

I have received certain intelligence that the 
Enemy's Ships to the number of two hundred and 
twenty sail was seen within a few Leagues of the 
light house^* yesterday about ten o'clock, and it was 
expected they would get into the Cape in the after- 
noon. Since that time the wind has been very 
favorable for them. It becomes now absolutely 
necessary for us to be on our guard and to do all 
we can to oppose the Enemy, but put it out of their 
power to distress the good people of the State. I 
therefore request that you will immediately order 
six hundred and eleven wagons out of your County 
to repair to this City, for the purpose of removing 
stores, provisions, etc, etc. As you value the Inter- 
est, happiness and peace of your Country, I entreat 

^* Cape Henlopcn Light, built by the British government 
in Queen Anne's reign and still in use. 



76 The Life of William Henry. 

you to exert yourselves in this matter, and forward 
them as fast as possible without waiting for any 
particular number to come together. 
I am with respect gentlemen 
Your very humble servant 

Thomas Wharton 

President. 
To 

William Henry, Esq. 
and others, the Magistrates 
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 

Having ascertained that Howe's demon- 
stration was In the nature of a feint, President 
Wharton countermanded the order for the 
wagons one week afterwards. 

In Council, Philadelphia, August 7, 1777. 
Gentlemen: — 

The fleet of the enemy not having made its ap- 
pearance at our Cape since Thursday evening last, 
it is doubtful whether the wagons ordered from 
your County will be wanted, and as the expense will 
be enormous, you are therefore hereby directed to 
stop the wagons from coming down until further 
orders. You will please give notice to the Service 
Wagon Masters in your County (by express, if 



The Life of William Henry. 77 

necessary) of this order that it may be effectually 
complied with. 

I am with respect gentlemen 
Your very Humble Servant, 
Thomas Wharton, President, 
To 

William Henry, Esq. 
and others, Judiciary of 
the County of Lancaster. 

A British account of this manouvre states 
that when Howe reached the capes he was 
Informed that the obstructions in the Dela- 
ware were impassable, whereupon he adroitly 
headed for the Chesapeake, which he ascended 
after many difficulties as far as the head of 
Elk River. 

On September 6, 1777, news of his ap- 
proach was communicated to Colonel Henry 
by President Wharton of the Board of War. 
In the same letter he was notified that by 
resolution of the board he had been au- 
thorized to manufacture arms for the colonial 
troops and was directed to proceed with the 
work at once. 



78 The Life of William Henry. 

Philadelphia, Sept. 6, 1777. 
Sir: 

Council passed a Resolve the 22d ult. which is 
here enclosed, and I must beg your particular atten- 
tion to it. I intended the day after the Resolve vv^as 
passed to have set off for Lancaster in company with 
Mr. Hubley, and expected to have had the pleasure 
to deliver you the Resolve myself, but the appear- 
ance of the Enemy, in the Bay of Chesapeak pre- 
vented and I really forgot it until this minute. 
Very likely Mr. Hubley mentioned it. If he did, 
I hope you made a beginning to employ workman 
to make arms. 

I am with great respect, 
Sir, your very Humble 
Servant, 
Tho. Wharton, Jun. 
President of the Board of War, 
W. Henry, esq. 

Anticipating Howe's obvious movement 
against Philadelphia the Congress which sat 
there adjourned to meet in Lancaster on Sep- 
tember 27. In the meantime Howe crossed 
the peninsula, and on the eleventh of Septem- 
ber met and repulsed Washington at the 
Brandywine, who had hurried across the Jer- 
seys for the protection of Philadelphia. 



The Life of William Henry. 79 

As the loss of this battle meant the loss of 
Philadelphia, the British without much fur- 
ther opposition entered the city on September 
26, and on the next day Washington, who 
had retired to Pennypacker's Mills, thirty 
miles northwest of the city, sent the following 
letter to Colonel Henry authorizing the im- 
pressment of supplies of all kinds for his 
needy troops. 

Sir: 

You are hereby authorized to impress all the 
Blankets, Shoes, Stockings, and other Articles of 
Clothing that can be spared by the Inhabitants of 
the County of Lancaster for the use of the Conti- 
nental Army, paying for the same at Reasonable 
rates or giving Certificates. 

Given at Camp at Pennypacker's Mill, this 27th 
day of Sept., 1777. 

Geo. Washington.^^ 
To William Henry, Esq., Lancaster. 

As previously arranged, the Congress reas- 
sembled in Lancaster on the twenty-seventh of 
September, the Board of War, the State Gov- 
ernment and the Treasury having preceded it, 

^' From the " Henry Collection," Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania. 



8o The Life of William Henry. 

and on the same day for prudential reasons 
the Congress, Howe having threatened Lan- 
caster, adjourned to meet in York, Pa. 

Among those who sought a domicile in Lan- 
caster during the British occupation of Phila- 
delphia were David Rittenhouse, the eminent 
astronomer and physicist, Treasurer of the 
State, and Mrs. Rittenhouse; John Hart, a 
member of the Continental Congress and 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
and Thomas Paine, the political essayist, 
all of whom were for a considerable time 
guests of Mr. Henry, who entertained them 
from a patriotic sense of duty. Rittenhouse, 
however, who was his warm personal friend 
remained until the evacuation of the city in the 
summer of 1778. 

Of this visit Rittenhouse writes : 

" While we continued in the Borough of Lancaster 
we made our home at the house of William Henry, 
at that time Treasurer of the rich and populous 
County of the same name, a situation helpful to my 
office with its connection to that of the County 
Treasury, and one which was also the more agree- 
able by reason of Mr. Henry's being a person of 
very considerable mechanical ingenuity." 



The Life of William Henry. 8i 

John Joseph Henry in his " Reminiscences " 
also refers to this visit: 

*' My greatest recreation In my distressed condi- 
tion [he was recovering from the effects of his im- 
prisonment of nine months in Quebec] was to get 
into the chamber of Mr. Rittenhouse, whose con- 
versation enlivened my mind, for he was most 
affable." 




CHAPTER X. 

Thomas Paine. 

HE addition of Paine to Colonel 
Henry's family circle was unfortu- 
nate. His indolent and intem- 
perate habits were not the qualities 
that go to make a desirable guest. More- 
over, he made no secret of his deistical opin- 
ions and these Mrs. Henry, who was a de- 
vout Christian, strongly combated. Finally 
his presence became so intolerable that she 
appealed to her husband, for the sake of 
his children, who were unavoidably present 
at the discussions and witnessed Paine's idio- 
syncrasies, to request him to withdraw. To 
this Colonel Henry was at first disinclined to 
accede. He recognized the marvelous in- 
fluence Paine's patriotic essays had upon the 
pubhc mind and was averse to any act that 
might interrupt the efforts of his pen. The 
fifth number of his " Crisis " was commenced 
at Henry's house, and we have authority for 
the statement that Paine took three months in 
its preparation. 

82 



The Life of William Henry. 83 

We are quoting substantially from the ex- 
tremely interesting " Reminiscences" of John 
Joseph Henry written In 1809, and, as afford- 
ing a character study at close range, we shall 
now quote Judge Henry's own words, cover- 
ing the period when Paine was his father's 
guest. It must be remembered, in explana- 
tion of his unreserved criticisms, that his 
" Reminiscences " are addressed to his chil- 
dren and were not written for publication. 

" I knew Paine well and that personally, for he 
was a guest in the house of my father when Generals 
Howe and Clinton were in Philadelphia. When 
my wound had so far mended in 1778 as to permit 
my hobbling about on crutches, I would sometimes 
go to Paine's room and sit with him, as I often did 
with Rittenhouse. I found Paine a man afflicted 
with a supercilious pride, and an Imaginary Impor- 
tance which made his society undesirable. He was 
of that class who, with a small amount of learning 
domineered as if he were a Johnson. It was his 
daily habit to take a walk in the morning until 
twelve, make an Inordinate dinner after which he 
would retire to his chamber and take a nap of several 
hours In a big arm chair wrapped In a blanket, with 
a bottle of spirits and a tumbler within easy reach of 
his hand. His indolence was amazing. His manu- 



84 The Life of William Henry. 

script lay upon the table covered with dust. To-day 
a few lines would be added, and in the course of a 
week a dozen more, and so on. His " Crisis " was 
dated March 21, 1778, and, although a short politi- 
cal paper, was not published until three months later. 
His essays were not, as you might suppose, the spon- 
taneous outburst of an elevated patriotic spirit, and 
one at least of his acts, while in the government 
service, approached dangerously near the border line 
of treason. It is true Generals Washington, Gates, 
and Greene acknowledged the patriotic sentiment 
aroused by his publications, and wrote commendatory 
letters, but they had no personal knowledge of the 
writer, and were ignorant of his infirmities. He had 
been appointed by Congress to inspire the people 
through his essays with a feeling of indignation 
against the despotism of the King and his ministry, 
and was successful, and was rewarded for this ser- 
vice by the appointment of Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs. This office he treated as a sinecure. He 
never went to York, where Congress then sat, except 
occasionally, and staid for a day or two. He failed 
to understand what was meant by a conscientious 
performance of duty, and his utter disregard of the 
common decencies of life estranged his associates, 
among them the late David Rittenhouse, one of the 
best of men, Treasurer of the State ; the Hon. George 
Bryan, vice-president of the Council and a man of 
great learning; Jonathan Sergeant, Attorney Gen- 



The Life of William Henry. 85 

eral of Pennsylvania, and your grandfather, and 
many other gentlemen of character during '77, '78 
and '79." 

Judge Henry continues : 

" He made friends but could not retain them and 
as showing the estimation in which he was held by 
his contemporaries, I give the following story of an 
encounter with Paine, which I heard from Colonel 
Samuel John Atlee, one of the participants — an emi- 
nent patiot and a man of note among us — a short 
time after it happened. 

" Clothier-General Mease, of Philadelphia, had 
invited a number of gentlemen of the army to dine 
with him in the city, among whom were General 
Francis Nichols, Colonel Atlee, Colonel Francis 
Johnson and several members of the Legislature, of 
whom was Matthias Slough, of Lancaster. All the 
gentlemen heartily approved of Paine's political 
essays, for they were to a man good Whigs, but his 
general bearing inspired a feeling of repugnance. 

"As you may readily suppose, the excellent wine 
of General Mease exhilarated the company. When 
returning to their lodgings Colonel Atlee observed 
Paine coming towards them down Market Street. 
' There comes " Common Sense," ' says Atlee to the 
company. 'D — n him,' says Slough, 'I'll "Com- 
mon Sense " him.' As he approached the party they 



86 The Life of William Henry. 

took the wall. Slough tripped him and threw him 
Into the gutter. 

"You may think this act cruel and unnecessary, 
yet these men were some of the most eminent in the 
State, who staked their all on the issue of the war. 

" Do not permit anything I have said to lead you 
to undervalue the sagacity of your grandfather, for 
he was wise but of so benevolent a mind that in the 
common affairs of life he held this principle as true : 
' You should consider everyone as possessing probity 
until you discover him to be otherwise.' 

"From these observations you will readily per- 
ceive how easy it was to impose upon my father. 
This explains why he continued to entertain Paine." 




CHAPTER XI. 

Lancaster in 1777. 

OLITICAL conditions In Lancas- 
ter at this time (1777), as re- 
flected In the Journal, were much 
disturbed by the incautious criti- 
cisms of the Confederation and the refusal to 
take the oath on the part of those who sym- 
pathized with the Crown; in consequence of 
which they were subjected to indignities and 
in some instances to Imprisonment. Many 
arrests were made without process of law, a 
procedure Col. Henry condemned and cor- 
rected. 

One of the prominent sympathizers was the 
Reverend Thomas Barton, rector of St. 
James', whose tory activities became so con- 
spicuously offensive that his arrest was deter- 
mined upon and its execution assigned to Col- 
onel Henry in the following order: 

CoL. John Carothers to William Henry, 1777. 
Carlisle, Sept. 25th, 1777. 
Sir, 

Two of the Justices of this Country have In- 
formed me that in the Course of the Examination 
87 



88 The Life of William Henry. 

of a Witness, touching a Plot or Combination of 
several People to destroy the public Magazines at 
Lancaster, York and Carlisle, The Revd. Thomas 
Barton of Lancr., Clerk, is named as one at least 
privy to that conspiracy. He is also charged w^ith 
carrying on Correspondence with the Enemies of this 
State, and of the United States of America. I am 
persuaded this intelligence ought more properly to 
have been communicated to Bartram Galbreath, as 
your County Lieut., but lest he should not be at 
home, I have been advised to communicate to you, 
Sir, as one of the Justices of Lancaster County, tho' 
I am not personally acquainted with you, I make 
no Doubt but that you will cause Mr. Barton to be 
secured in such a manner as your prudence shall 
direct, on rect, of this letter. 
I am Sir, 

Yr very Hbls. Servt., 
Jno. Carothers, lieut. of C. C. 

George Stevenson to William Henry, 1777. 

Carlisle, 25th Sepr, 1777. 
Dear Sir: 

Inclosed you will receive a Letter from John 
Corrithers, Sepr, our County Lieut., by which you 
will know that Mr. Barton's name is brought on the 
Carpet as being privy to the Tory Plot, and cor- 
responding with our enemies. 

Mr. Batwell is also accused of being a principal 



The Life of William Henry. 89 

Leader. A party of Militia have taken him, and I 
suppose by this Time he is lodged in York Goal. It 
is a Pity that men who have been employ'd in 
preaching the Gospel of Peace should be found en- 
gaged in such base Plots. 

Have you done any Thing towards securing 
David Copeland, the man I spoke of to you at Lan- 
caster? I wish he were secured; he is a material 
Witness — having been much employed carrying let- 
ters & Messages among the Conspirators. I shall 
be glad to know what you shall have done in Con- 
sequence of Mr. Carrithers's Letter. 
I am Sr, 

yr most Hble Servt, 

Geo. Stevenson. 
Directed, 

To William Henry, Esquire, Lancaster. 

Favored by Col. Culbertson. 

Although Colonel Henry and Doctor Bar- 
ton were temperamentally antagonistic they 
had long been friends, and before, and for a 
time after his marriage, Henry had been one 
of his parishioners, which made the contem- 
plation of his arrest embarrassing as well as 
painful. The Inference Is, however, that the 
doctor escaped the extreme penalty Intended 
for him, probably through the forbearance of 



go The Life of William Henry. 

Colonel Henry, as from the Journal we are 
Informed that on October 13, 1778, having 
disposed of his real estate to his son-in-law, 
Zanzinger, he was permitted to leave with 
his wife for Boston, and thence to England. 
From the Journal of the same year we are 
also told that when Lancaster received the 
news of the return of Mr. Silas Deane from 
France after successfully negotiating treaties 
of alliance and commerce with that country — 
a compact so vital In Its bearing upon the 
future conduct of the war — It was acclaimed 
by the people with every manifestation of ap- 
proval. " Salutes were fired, and In the even- 
ing an illumination, the expenses of which," 
so the Journal reads, "were paid by Col. 
Henry out of his own pocket." This was one 
of his many acts to cheer the drooping spirits 
of the people and to keep alive the embers of 
patriotism. 




CHAPTER XII. 

Arms for the Troops the Crying Need 
OF THE Hour. 

ROM the following letters covering 
the years 1 777-7 8-'79 It will be 
seen that the crying need of the 
hour, and one which threatened 
serious consequences if not promptly met, was 
an adequate supply of arms for the troops 
Impatiently waiting to take the field, or to re- 
place weapons lost or destroyed In action. 
To meet this demand, which was pressing 
from every quarter, Henry's gun works lo- 
cated on Mill Creek, outside the Borough of 
Lancaster, where what Is known today as the 
*' Old Factory Road " crosses that stream, 
and the best equipped in the colonies, were 
working night and day to their utmost capa- 
city, and the Board of War, realizing the 
gravity of the situation and the importance of 
keeping his works In uninterrupted operation, 
exempted his workmen from liability to mili- 
tary duty. 

91 



92 The Life of William Henry. 

From Richard Peters, Secretary Board of 
War, to William Henry. 

War Office 
York, Novr. 7, 1777. 
Sir: 

The Board have sent an order to the Command- 
ing Officer at Lancaster to Collect from the militia 
returning all Continental Arms and Necessaries. 
As the Virginia Militia are returning from Camp 
I have to request your assistance in getting back any 
arms furnished them at Lancaster, if they should be 
carrying them home. Perhaps as the General 
(Washington) may not have attended to this matter 
they may not, as they ought to do, have deposited 
their Arms at Camp. 

I am your obt. Servt., 

Richard Peters 
Secretary Board of War. 
William Henry, Esq. 

From " Light Horse " Harry Lee dated 

Charleston, Virginia, Who is Chafing to 

Get into the Saddle. 

Charleston, February 8, 1778. 
Dear Sir: — 

I am exceedingly anxious to join the army. We 
wait for nothing but carbines. Be pleased to send 
per bearer such as may be ready and expedite the 
completion of the remainder engaged. 



The Life of William Henry. 93 

I have the honor to be Sir with highest esteem 
your most obedient and most humble servant. 
William Henry, Esq. Harry Lee 

General Horatio Gates President of the 
Board of War to Colonel William Henry, 
IN Which His Presence is Requested in 
York, Where the Congress and the Board 
OF War Were Assembled. 

War Office, 13th April 1778. 

The board of War request you will come to 
York, as soon as the business you are engaged in 
will permit, and they desire you will tell me, by 
return of the Bearer, when we may expect to see 
you. 

Horatio Gates, President. 
William Henry, Esq. 

From General Anthony Wayne, at Valley 
Forge, to Colonel Henry, Protesting 
Against an Order of the Supreme Execu- 
tive Council of Pennsylvania to Transfer 
Arms Intended for His Division, to the 
Militia. 

Camp Mount Joy 
14th May 1778. 

Dear Sir: — 

Col. Bayard informs me that after having the 

Arms, Bayonets &c., prepared to send to Camp 



94 The Life of William Henry. 

which was furnished for the use of my Division by 
you, they were stoped by order of the Council for 
the use of the Militia in case they should be called 
out — and that they can't be forwarded unless his 
Excellency gives a particular order for it. I wish 
you to Advert to the Return & order from the Board 
of War — and from His Excellency Gen'l Washing- 
ton thro' me for a Certain number of Arms, Bayo- 
nets and Accoutrements for the use of my Division 
— this will certainly justify you in furnishing them 
in preference to any other order from any other 
person whatever. 

I communicated the contents of Col. Bayard's 
letter this morning to His Excellency who expressed 
just surprise at the order not being complied with 
and ordered me to Request you to forward those 
articles together with the Espontoons with all 
possible Dispatch. Col. Bayard will present you 
with another order from the Adjt General for an 
additional number of articles which I wish you to 
furnish the Soonest possible as we have numbers of 
men that can't take the field without them. 
Interim I am Dear Sir 

Your Most Obt 

Hum. St. 
Anty. Wayne B. G. 

Wm. Henry, Esq., 
Lancaster. 



The Life of William Henry. 95 

Wayne, whose Impetuous temperament 
would not permit him to submit calmly to 
what he considered an Injustice, Invoked the 
authority of Washington, who, on the same 
day, sent the following letter to Colonel 
Henry, suggesting a plan to meet Wayne's 
requisition. 

Camp at Valley Forge, 
May 14, 1778. 
Sir 

I find from a letter from Lieut. Col. Bayard to 
General Wayne that a parcel of arms to which you 
had made or fixed bayonets were retained by the 
Governor and Council of Pennsylvania because the 
muskets belonged to the State. I have written to 
Governor Wharton upon the subject and have in- 
formed him that if the muskets do belong particu- 
larly to the State, you will replace them with an 
equal number of Continentals, many of which you 
have to repair, this I desire you will do. 

If the espontoons for the officers are finished be 
pleased to send them down ; if they are not, let them 
be completed as soon as possible. 

Geo. Washington. 

William Henrj^ Esq. 
Lancaster 



96 The Life of William Henry. 

The following letters from Richard Peters, 
Timothy Pickering, the Supreme Executive 
Council and Commissary Lukens have refer- 
ence to supplying the troops with arms. 



York, Pennsylvania, 
War Office, 
May 19th 1778. 
Sir: — 

You will please to deliver to the order of Hon. 
Council of Pennsylvania one hundred Common 
Rifles (without Bayonets) if you have or can pro- 
cure that number speedily. A light corps from 
Camp is expected at Lancaster and you will keep in 
view the providing them with what they want for 
Frontier Business. We mention this as we have 
to the Council lest your stock should be exhausted 
by this order. 

By order of the Board. 

Richard Peters. 
Secretary Board of War. 

William Henry Esq. 

Superintendant of 
Arms and Military Acoutrements. 
Lancaster. 



The Life of William Henry. 97 

From Timothy Pickering, Secretary of War, 
TO Col. Henry. 

War Office, 
York, Pa., May 26, 1778. 
Sir, 

Major Lee Informs us that he has conversed with 
you relative to the manufacture of carbines for his 
corps. You doubted your ability to undertake it at 
this time on account of the multiplicity of your 
business. But we are so anxious to get this corps 
equipped, because of the very great advantage which 
must result from it, we cannot but express our wishes 
that some part of your present business might be for 
a while suspended, and this engaged in. Major Lee 
wants a hundred carbines; but thirty furnished in a 
short time will enable him to take the field. To 
make this last number we desire you to set some of 
your people at work immediately, for no part of 
your business appears to us of equal importance. 
The particular size and construction you and Major 
Lee will agree upon. 

We are, sir, 

Your obedient servants. 
By order of the Board 
Tim. Pickering jun. 

William Henry, Esq. 
8 



98 The Life of William Henry. 

From Timothy Pickering, Secretary of War, 
TO Colonel Henry. 

War Office, June 8, 1778. 
Sir:— 

General Washington Informs us that 1700 car- 
tridge boxes are wanted In his army to furnish those 
who are destitute. Pray send Immediately all you 
have, and set as many hands at work as possible In 
making more. 

I have the honor to be your obedient servant 
Tim Pickering, Jr. 

Wm. Henry, Esq. 

From the Supreme Executive Council to 
Colonel Henry. 

Philadelphia, July 15, 1778. 

Sir: 

The Council have ordered the Lieutenants of the 
counties of Lancaster and Berks to call on you for 
what arms may be necessary to put into the hands 
of the militia now ordered into service from these 
Counties, and if arms cannot be had at Carlisle, the 
Lieut's of York & Cumberland will also apply to 
you to make up their deficiencies. These demands 
you will please to comply with as far as may be in 
your power. 



The Life of William Henry. 99 

The arrangement for the Frontier defence is 
Part of Col. Hartley reg' now in 

Philada. about lOO 

Two Wyoming Companies (uncer- 
tain) 100 

Mllltia from Lancaster, 400 

Berks, 150 

Northumberland, .... 300 

To march to Sunbury. 1050 

Part of Col. Hartley's reg' now In 

New Jersey, 80 

Northampton MUItla, 300 

Berks " 150 

Col. Kowatz's horse, 20 

A small comp'y under Col. Butler, . . 20 

at Easton 570 

Col. Broadhead's regt. (perhaps),. . . 250 

Cumberland Militia, 300 

York, 200 

750 

A vigorous attack on New York Is determined on 
while the French fleet block up the harbor, and there 
Is reason to hope for success In the measure 
Yours 

T. Matlack, Sec'y. 
To Wm. Henry, Esq. 



lOO The Life of William Henry. 

Carlisle, 31st, July 1778. 
Sir:— 

As. Genl. Mcintosh wants in his army six hun- 
dred muskets with their Bayonets, and as I judge 
impracticable that such a number can be put in 
order at the time of our departure, I pray you to 
send at Lancaster to Mr. Henry for to have im- 
mediately 3 hundred muskets ready, which number 
fail us. Perhaps you know of some other place not 
far off Carlisle where it is possible to find some 
muskets ready if Mr. Henry cannot supply this 
number. I pray you will please do your endeavor; 
it would be necessary the muskets be here on Mon- 
day or Wednesday. 

I have the honor to be Sir, 
Your most Obedt. most hble sert. 

Le Cheve. De Cambray. 
Major Lukens. 

To this letter which was forw^arded to Col. 
Henry, Major Lukens adds the following 
postscript : — 

(P. S. by Major Lukens) 

Col. De Cambray is to have the direction of 
the Artillery in the Western expedition. He is left 



The Life of William Henry. loi 

here by Gen. Mcintosh to get all things forward 
that are necessary for the command. 

Chas. Lukens. 
W. Henry Esq. 

From Assistant Commissary Lukens to 
Colonel Henry, 

in which, among other articles, is a Reguisition for 
Tomahawks for Colonel Brodhead Commanding the 
forces on the Pennsylvania frontier. 

Carlisle, Aug. 5, 1778. 
Sir 

Yours of the 3d by Sergt. Bradley came safe to 
hand. Am very glad to hear j^ou have expectation 
to send the Articles they wrote for. I must again 
Trouble you; since Col. Brodhead's arrival here he 
has desired that he may be furnished as Speedily as 
Possible 1500 Powder Horns and Shot bags Com- 
pleat, for Rifle men. The other Articles he wants 
are as follows; tho' am apprehensive you have them 
not; 1000 Small Hatchets or Tomahawks, 15000 
flints, 1500 Canteens of wood or tin. The Powder 
Horns and Shot bags I hope you can send, and if 
any of the Other Articles so much the better. 
I am with Respect 
Your Humble Servant 

Chas Lukens 
C. M. Stores. 
Wm. Henry, Esq. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

Is Made Superintendent of Arms and 
Accoutrements, and Assistant Com- 
missary General. 

N addition to his other duties, Col- 
onel Henry established workshops 
In Philadelphia, Lancaster and Al- 
lentown and elsewhere In the State, 
for making boots, shoes, hats and accoutre- 
ments for the army, and with the aid of Assis- 
tant Commissaries superintended their manu- 
facture — Industries second to none In their Im- 
portant bearing upon the efficiency and phys- 
ical condition of the troops; and the Board 
of War, relying upon his known executive 
ability, gave him complete control of this de- 
partment, appointing him Superintendent of 
Arms and Accoutrements, and Commissary 
General of Hides for the States of Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware and Maryland. His com- 
mission follows: 

I02 



The Life of William Henry. 103 

[seal] 

By the Board of War and Ordinance of the 
United States of America, to William Henry Esq. 
of Lancaster in the State of Pennsylvania. By 
Virtue of the Authority given us by Congress in 
their act of the 23. instant, herevv^ith transmitted, 
you are hereby appointed Commissary of Hides for 
the States of Pennsylvania, Deleware and Maryland. 
You will proceed immediately in the faithful and 
diligent discharge of that duty, as pointed out in 
the following instructions and such others as the 
Board may from time to time think proper to give 
you. You will correspond with the Board and the 
Clothier General, informing him and us of all 
material transactions in your Department. 

As there will be no Continental agents to in- 
terfere with you in your district, and the whole 
business is committed to your care, we expect your 
utmost exertions will be used, in procuring immedi- 
ate and constant supplies of shoes for the troops, 
who without great dilligence in the commissaries of 
hides, we fear will greatly suffer. 

Given at the War office the Fifth Day of August, 
Anno Domini 1779, in the Fourth Year of our In- 
dependance. 

By order of the Board. 
Richard Peters, 

Secretary. 



I04 The Life of William Henry. 

From William Shannon to Colonel Henry, 

Applying for the Position of Assistant 

Commissary. 

Philadelphia, June 24, 1779- 
Sir:— 

I wrote you a few days ago by a Transient Person 
and a Stranger, nearly of the same import as this; 
a doubtfuUness of its safe Conveyance has induced 
me to trouble you a Second Time. I have acted in 
the Hide Department under Colonel Ewing, for the 
last ten months past, during said time had no great 
degree of Comfort, yet, the difficulties of any busi- 
ness is lessoned as a Knowledge thereof is acquired; 
besides if I can be employed to my satisfaction in 
this department, shall not think of going into any 
other. I, a few days ago, applied to the Board of 
War, to know if they had any business for me. 
They informed me that you were appointed to di- 
rect a principal part of the Hide Department, and 
they requested I would immediately write you, desir- 
ing that no appointment might be made in the De- 
partment until the Board and you were satisfied 
with respect to my abilities and other qualifications 
for the Business, alledging if they were equal to 
the Task, I might serve with more advantage than 
an inexperienced Person. 

You will probably think from my repeated appli- 
cations (if they should come to hand) that I am 



. The Life of William Henry. 105 

very fond of office, but I assure you that It Is only 
a desire to effect with certainty what with one 
attempt might have been very uncertain. 

Please indulge me with a few lines on this sub- 
ject and direct them to the War Office. 
I am Sir, 

Your unknown friend, 

and humble servent, 
Wm. Shannon, 
D. C. of Hides. 
William Henry, Esq. 

From Hon. Timothy Pickering, Secretary of 

War to Colonel Henry in Relation to 

Shannon's Application. 

War Office, June 28, 1779. 
Sir:— 

Soon after your departure from this city, Mr. 
Shannon, whose letter is enclosed, made known to 
the board his desire to continue in the hide depart- 
ment. As we were pretty much strangers to his 
character, we wrote to two gentlemen at Camp, who 
are probably best acquainted with it, for information. 
Their answer is not yet arrived. Upon his princi- 
ple maintained in his letter we thought it would 
be proper to employ hira; specially for the purpose 
of finishing the business and contracts which upon 
Mr. Ewing's resignation will remain unsettled. 
Appearances are in his favor ; and if qualified for the 



io6 The Life of William Henry. 

business, an old officer is to be preferred to a new- 
one. The purpose of this letter is to notify you of 
Mr. Shannon's request and of the steps we have 
taken, that you may reserve a place for him. In case 
the evidence of his good character are satisfactory 
to you; for we mean not to control your appoint- 
ments. 

We find that some persons who contract to sup- 
ply shoes for the army are guilty of great Impositions 
on the public. Besides the badness of some of the 
leather, the shoes are pinched In every part and very 
unfaithfully put together, the stitches In many for 
sewing the upper leather to the Inner sole are three 
quarters of an Inch long and upwards. We might 
pursue some other mode to obtain shoes; and either 
buy the leather and cut the shoes, before they are 
delivered the Shoe-makers; or get a number of 
pattern shoes made, of the necessary different sizes, 
and deliver to every contractor, and In this case all 
the shoes not made according to the pattern should 
be rejected. In the first case they may deceive by 
changing the good public leather for their own of 
an Inferior quality; and they may do their work 
badly, and It would be difficult to apply a remedy 
to these evils. In the other case If the shoes are 
of bad leather, or badly made the public have only 
to refuse them, the fear of which would induce con- 
tractors to make good ones; however, your long 
experience In this business will enable you to decide 



The Life of William Henry. 107 

on the most proper mode of conducting the business ; 
and we wish to be favored with your sentiments as 
soon as possible, with such information as shall en- 
able us to direct the measures most expedient to be 
pursued for procuring shoes in all cases falling under 
our notice. We shall be glad to receive the pattern 
Cartridge box as soon as you can get it made. 
We are, Sir with great regard, 

your most obedient servant. 

By order of your board, 

Tim. Pickering. 
William Henry Esq. 

From Timothy Pickering, Secretary of War, 
TO William Henry, Esq.^^ 

War Office, May 3, 1779. 
Sir:— 

By Mr. Henry's (William Henry Jr) return in 
March it appeared that he had then on hand up- 
wards of three thousand pairs of shoes. About that 
number we now want for a particular purpose ; and 
as we know not of any considerable issues since, we 
persume you have at least that number now by you. 
They are to be packed in bags which we shall send 
you by the first conveyance. In doing this care 

^® Pickering was a graduate of Harvard and one of the 
very few statesmen (among them Jos. Reed, who was an 
alumnus of Princeton) who ifigured in the Revolution, 
that had had the advantages of a collegiate education. 



io8 The Life of William Henry. 

should be taken to place the heels inwards, otherwise 
they will soon wear holes in the bags. As these 
bags are finally to be carried on pack-horses, one 
hundred and sixty pairs in a bag will be sufficient, 
tho' they would hold near i8o pairs. The method 
taken by the Clothier General is to tie six pairs In a 
bundle, pressing them close together, by which 
means they take much less room. Upon receiving 
the bags you will be pleased immediately to pack the 
shoes and have them ready when called for. 
We are sir, your obedient servants. 

By order of the Board, 

Tim. Pickering. 
William Henry, Esq. 

War Office, May lo, 1779. 
Sir, 

We on the 7th Inst, desired you to send to Esther- 
ton 200 bayonet sheaths, 200 bayonet belts, and 200 
cartouch boxes; after fulfilling this order, you will 
be pleased to pack up without delay, all the remain- 
ing cartouch boxes, bayonet belts and bayonet 
sheaths, also all the muskets with bayonets fit for 
service, in your possession, and send the same to the 
head of Elk, directed to Col. Henry Hollingsworth 
D.Q.M. there with a request to him to forward 
the same as expeditiously as possible to Alexan- 
dria in Virginia, where they are to be delivered to 
the officer commanding the Virginia newly raised 



The Life of William Henry. 109 

line at that place. Send by this express, or the first 
conveyance a return of the Arms and accoutrerments 
you shall be able to send to Alexandria; or if you 
cannot exactly ascertain the numbers of each, favor 
us with an estimate as near the truth as possible, 
as thereby we shall regulate the issues for the same 
purpose from hence 

We are Sir, 
Your most obed't Sevants, 
By order of the Board. 

Richard Peters 
Secretary of the Board 
William Henry, Esq. 

From Richard Peters, Secretary of the Board 
OF War, to Colonel Henry. 

War Office 
May 24 1779 
Sir: 

There being a pressing Demand for Arms in 
Maryland we are obliged to order the three hun- 
dred Muskets without Bayonets to the Head of Elk 
direct to the care of Col. Henry Hollingsworth or 
if you can, & we should prefer your doing it, to 
Baltimore directly to the care of Jas Calhoun Esq. 
D.Q.M. there. Either of these Gentlemen to in- 
form Govr Johnson of their receiving the Arms 
which are to be subject to his disposition. Use 
every degree of Expedition as the arms are wanted 



no The Life of William Henry. 

for the Maryland Militia for the immediate defense 
of the State. 

Your obt Servants 

Richard Peters 
By Order of the Board 
William Henry Esq. 
Lancaster. 

We are pressed on every side for Arms. Do 
exert yourself to get as many as possible fit for ser- 
vice. If you have Cartouch Boxes of the old con- 
struction that will any w^ise answer the present 
Emergency send them with the Arms, to Govr John- 
son & inform us how many you send. He wants 
Six Hundred. 

9 o'clock at night 

We have considered further & you are to send the 
Arms to Elk to the care of Col. Levi Holllngs- 
worth. Let him know he Is to Inform Govr John- 
son of the Receipt of them. 




CHAPTER XIV. 

Reed-Henry Correspondence on the 

Alarming Financial Condition 

of the Country. 

N the following correspondence be- 
tween Col. Henry and the Hon. 
Joseph Reed, President of Penn- 
sylvania from 1778 to 178 1, the 
all absorbing subject of discussion Is the de- 
plorable condition of the treasury and the 
difficulties attending the collection of revenue 
for war purposes, on which alone success 
depended. 

It devolved upon Col. Henry, as Treasurer 
of Lancaster County, to select for this unwel- 
come task competent and trustworthy men, no 
easy matter, as his letters explain. In a com- 
munity lacking anything approaching una- 
nimity of sentiment favorable to the war. 

It will be seen that their relations were 
close and confidential, permitting entire free- 
dom of expression. 

For example in his letter of December 19, 
III 



112 The Life of William Henry. 

1780, after commending Colonel Henry for 
imprisoning a collector of revenue for embez- 
zlement, Reed declares that if he were " an 
absolute prince for one minute, he would em- 
ploy the time in issuing an order for his [the 
embezzler's] execution " ; and that he placed 
the utmost reliance upon Colonel Henry's dis- 
cretion, one has but to read their Interesting 
exchanges at what was perhaps the most dis- 
couraging period in the history of the struggle. 

In no single instance is there a word in 
Reed's letters inimical to the conduct of the 
war, or in disparagement of its leaders. 
Every line breathes a spirit of loyalty, and a 
deep personal interest in the result of the 
contest. And yet inconceivable as it must 
appear in the light of his correspondence and 
official acts, Reed's attitude during the war 
became the subject of a heated and acrimo- 
nious dispute, many years after his death, in 
which he was charged not only with supine- 
ness, but with downright disloyalty. 

This discussion was renewed with great bit- 
terness when the Civil War between the states 
was at its height, and although a kinsman 
came ably to his defence, the evidence he pro- 
duced was not regarded at the time as suffi- 



The Life of William Henry. 113 

cient. Other documentary evidence was after- 
wards discovered that ameliorated the allega- 
tions, if they did not disprove them. 

President Reed to Colonel Henry, 1779, in 
Which He Makes Acknowledgment 
OF Col. Henry's Services to the 
State. 
Sir, 

We find ourselves under a Necessity of troubling 
you to negotiate a Piece of Business which you will 
find expressed at large in the enclosed Minute of 
Council. We have no Instructions to give as to 
Price, but that if there are Regulations in the 
County, we would have you conform to them. If 
not we will give £20 per ct. for good merchantable 
Flour. You will please to correspond with Mr. 
TurnbuU, our Agent hereupon, & call on him for 
Money with which he will supply you. Our in- 
tention is in the first Place to purchase suitable 
Clothing for our Officers, of which they are in great 
Want, & of which they are very deserving. And 
then apply the Residue to the Purchase of a Quanity 
of Salt to be distributed among the Counties, with a 
due regard to the Persons & Counties who furnish 
Flour or Wheat for the Expence. 

You will greatly oblige Council by your Exer- 
tions on this Occasion, & what will be a more pow- 
erful Inducement to you, it will be a great Addition 



114 The Life of William Henry. 

to the many Services you have already rendered the 
State. I am, Sir, 

With much Esteem, 
Your obed. Hbble. Servt. 

Jos. Reed. 
Council Chamber, Aug. 25, i779- 
To William Henry, Esq., Lancaster. 

From Benjamin Stoddard, Secretary of War, 
TO Col. William Henry. 

War Office, Nov. 3d, 1779. 

Enclosed you have additional Instructions from 
the Board to the Commissaries of Hides and a list 
of the different commissaries and the several districts 
to which they are appointed. 

Major HItfield Commissary for the State of New- 
York and the district where the army lies, having 
near ten thousand hides on hand, and not being 
able to furnish more than 1500 pairs of Shoes 
monthly. Is ordered to send 2000 Immediately to 
Philadelphia to be delivered to your Assistant You 
will therefore be pleased to Issue the necessary or- 
ders to him In consequence of this unexpected supply 
and should It be In your power to dispose of more, 
probably you may be furnished from the same 
channel : 

I am Sir your most obedient servant 
Ben. Stoddard. 
Wm. Henry, Esq., Secretary of War, 

Lancaster, Pa. 



, The Life of William Henry. 115 

Colonel William Henry to President Reed. 
Sir: — Lancaster, November 27, 1779. 

I am Informed one John Musser^^ of this Town 
has lately purchased a Tract of land of about 500 
Acres, commonly known by the Name of the Cones- 
toga Mannor, of John Penn, late Governor, of 
Pennsylvania, for nine Pounds the Acre hard Money. 
At the Time the Lands in this part of the province 
was purchased of the Delaware Indians this was 
Reserved and a Deed was made to them and their 
Heirs, etc., the Indians who resided on It were 
killed by a Number of People In a former war and 
the Deed fell Into the hands of John Hay, then 
SherifE of Lancaster County, who delivered the 
same to Mr. John Penn. — This piece of Land was 
afterwards claimed by Sir William Johnston in 
behalf of the Heirs, in consequence of which the 
use of the Land was given to Mr. Thomas Barton 
who Is gone over to the Enemy. Mrs. Susana 
Wright could give I believe a more satisfactory 
Account of this affair than I can. It may be proper 
perhaps to Inquire into this Affair. I have therefore 
thought it my Duty to give all the Information I 
have been able to collect. 

I am with due Respect, 

Sir, your obed't hum. Servant, 

William Henry. 
His excellency Joseph Reed, Esq. 

*^This is the same John Musser who was afterwards 
arrested for unlawfully trafficking in British merchandise. 



ii6 The Life of William Henrv. 

This and the following letters to and from 
Colonel Henry and President Reed treat of 
the prevailing financial conditions. 

Lancaster, April 25th, 1780. 
Sir:— 

The question you are pleased to put to me in your 
favor of the i8th inst. is not a little embarrassing, 
for in the Course of my Answer I shall not only 
be obliged to accuse my Employers but myself also. 
The Board have been rather remiss, but they have 
their Excuses. Their Pay will not support their 
Horses while in Town, much less themselves and 
pay for their Services. I have often observed, when 
they come to Town, they hurry home before the 
Business is done, which I thought ought to have been 
done. I have often taken the Liberty to tell them 
so, and received for Answer, their Pay would not 
support them. I do not say their Reasons were 
good, but it is a Certainty, they are such as influence 
the Minds of most Men. I could wish the Assem- 
bly could be convinced, " that it is private Interest 
that executes Government," as well with Regard to 
the Board as the Treasurers. My Pay will scarse 
clear the expenses twice to Philadelphia.^^ There 

^^ From a bill rendered Col. Henry by Adam Weaver, 
proprietor of the stage line between Lancaster and Phila- 
delphia, we find that in the year 1783 Mrs. Henry was 
charged £2 (about $10) for passage to and from Phila- 
delphia. 



The Life of William Henry. 117 

are a Number of Difficulties to be encountered in 
this County which none of the others have to strive 
with. There are several of the Townships, which 
have not more than two or three Persons who have 
taken the oath of Allegiance, and therefore not 
capable in Law to act as Assessors or Appraisers. 
This gives the Board much Trouble and takes much 
time, before People can be found, who will act, and 
those are generally of the lowest Character. Some 
Collectors have employ'd others at their own Risk 
and will suffer by it. I am indebted at this Time 
to the State between Sixty & Seventy Thousand 
Pound, which I have laid out in purchase of Leather 
and Paying Workmens Wages at the Shoe-Factory 
at Philadelphia, AUentown and Lancaster. Pressed 
by the Board of War and the Clothier General, as 1 
am to make the utmost Exertions to furnish tha 
Army with Shoes and Boots by the opening of the 
Campaign, I hope. Sir, you will excuse the Liberty 
I have taken, as it was done only with an Intent 
to further the Service. The whole of the Factorys 
must have stop'd for want of Pay and Materials, 
if I had not supported them with Money. I do not 
even draw Commissions on the Money furnished the 
Factorys. I this Day write to the Clothier General, 
who will draw 200,000 Dollars from Congress, and 
replace what I have used. There is yet Fourteen 
Townships out of Thirty three to settle for the first 
Tax for 1779 — as soon as they have settled, I will 



ii8 The Life of William Henry. 

go to Philadelphia and settle with the State-Treas- 
urer, which I expect will be about the 15th of May 
next or Sooner, if I can settle here with the Board 
and Collectors. 

I am Sir 
Your obed't & hum. Ser. 

William Henry. 
His Excellency Joseph Reed Esq. 

Colonel William Henry to President Reed, 

1780. 
Sir:— 

In a letter from Col. Atlee, of the ist inst., I have 
the following Paragraph from your Excellency's of 
the 22 ult: 

" The Deficiencies of Lancaster County in the 
Taxes is become a most serious Consideration. The 
Treasurer informs us that only Three Townships 
have paid ofi their Fifteen Million Taxes, while the 
Counties here which have been invaded, distressed 
& plundered, have paid ofif their Fifteen Million, 
their Forty-Five, and Three of their Monthly 
Taxes. Is not this melancholy? — I am sorry Mr. 
Rittenhouse has not understood my last Letter to 
him on that Subject, though perhaps the Fault may 
be my own; be that as it may, the Fact is, that the 
whole of the First Tax for 1779, except a Ballance 
in the Hands of Three of the Collectors (who are 
sued) is paid into my Hands; and I have paid at 
Sundry Times ab .£163,000 to the Treasurer, and 



The Life of William Henry. 119 

by his Order, etc: and have Orders of Congress for 
more than the Amount of the First Tax. At the 
time I wrote to the State Treasurer there were but 
three Townships who had made their first Payments 
on the second Tax for 1779, Since which Three 
others have each made a small Payment ; But there 
lays an order of the Treasurer in Favor of Col. 
Blaine for 150,000, in the hands of Mr. Slough, 
30,000 of which I have discharged. I w^as obliged 
to include Col. Atlee £1,500 to forward the Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, except which I have not lent or 
laid out any Monies, either in Trade or otherways, 
belonging to the public. I beg leave to observe, that 
there seems to be more expected from Lancaster 
County than was in our Power to perform. The 
Act Levying the second Tax for 1779, was made in 
November last, and the Laws were not sent up till 
January. To my Knowledge the Commissioners 
began to lay the Tax by the Act published in the 
News-paper, and as they received Instruction from 
Council which differed from the Method they had 
pursued were obliged to Order the Returns to be 
made over again. The Weather then set in so 
severe that there was no Travelling till April. The 
Taxes were laid as soon as the Returns could be got 
in; and the Appeals were held in May and Collec- 
tors appointed. 

That Philadelphia City & County Taxes are so 
far forward is no Merit in their Board of Commis- 



120 The Life of William Henry. 

sioners, as the Snow was not a fourth Part of the 
Depth there that it was here; besides, there is little 
Difficulty in procuring Assessors, Appraisers & Col- 
lectors in Philadelphia City & County, etc., to what 
there is here where there are few people in many of 
the Townships but such as are disaffected. I hope, 
Sir, you will do me the Justice to believe that I have 
done, & am doing, all that is in my Power to for- 
ward the Collecting the Taxes. The large Sums 
owing by the Quarter Masters & Commlssarys of 
Purchases, etc., will very much lessen the Sum of 
Money expected from the Taxes of this County. 
I am, with due Respect, Sir, 

Your most hum. Serv. 
William Henry, C. T. 
His Excellency Joseph Reed, Esq. 

Colonel William Henry to President Reed, 

1780. 
Sir:— 

The provision and Forage at this place being 
nearly expended Majr. Wirtz Informed the Com- 
manding officer Lt. Colo. Temple that he could not 
engage to furnish the Troops with a sufficient Quan- 
Ity of provisions, forage etc. The Colonel applied 
to me as a Magistrate for Press Warrants to enable 
Mr. WIrtz to take those articles where they might 
be found, but as the Laws would not support me 
in granting such Warrants, I Informed the Colonel 



T-be Life of William Henry. 121 

that I would write to the President and Council 
concerning the Affair. It is certain they cannot be 
supported here without Hawling the Hay ten or 
Fifteen mile, as the Hay In the neighborhood of 
Lancaster has been chiefly consumed by the Horses 
purchased for the French Army and by the Horses 
kept here, etc. and those who have Hay Cattle etc., 
will not part with It without Specie or Continental 
Money. Why Is not the New State Money made 
a Legal Tender? — many would gladly take It, If 
they could pay their debts with It. If the persons 
who may refuse to take the New Continental Money 
are admitted to Ball, the Severity of the Law, pub- 
lished for Consideration, will be evaded, Trials will 
be put off from Court to Court etc. Would It not 
be better that the offender should be Committed 
without Ball or Main prise till the ensuing Sessions 
or If he choose It till a Court for that purpose 
should be called by himself. 

Soap, Candles and Vegetables are not furnished 
the Troops here, and they complain much for Want 
of them. — One of our Collectors I have sent to Jail 
for having speculated with the Money. 
I am Sir, 

Your very obedient, 
& hum. Servant, 
William Henry. 
His Excellency Joseph Reed Esq. 

Philadelphia. Express. 



122 The Life of Willir^.m Henry. 

President Reed to Colonel William Henry. 

Sir:— 

I duly received your favor of the 3rd Inst. & 
should be sorry that anything In my Letter to Col. 
Atlee of the ist Inst, should be construed Into a sus- 
picion of the Delay of Taxes In your County to arise 
from any Neglect much more misconduct In you. I 
assure you I have ever entertained far different sen- 
timents & should have done you much Injustice If 
I could have supposed you to employ the public 
Money In trade or otherwise. Mr. RIttenhouse's 
Report was made In writing & I presume on com- 
petent Authority — my remark was general having 
no particular Person In View nor do I know why 
Col. Atlee sent the Paragraph to you unless he sup- 
posed you would use It as a stimulus to the Com- 
missaries, Collectors & others. 

But I cannot agree with you that more is ex- 
pected from Lancaster County than It can perform, 
because no more Is expected than the Law has ap- 
pointed & which her own Representatives have 
thought she could raise within a given Time. I 
beg to know, my good friend, why Lancaster 
County cannot pay her taxes proportionally with 
other Counties — has she suffered by the enemy — 
has Famine, Pestilence Tempest or bad seasons de- 
prived her of the Means — you will agree with me In 
the negative. Are not her Lands good & the 
County populous? did she not at the last Review 



The Life of William Henry. 123 

of Property appear so considerable as to have almost 
double the number of Representatives of most of the 
other Counties — even those who have contributed 
more to the public Necessities than she has done? 
You will also agree with me in this. But I fancy 
I can throw some light on the subject. There is not 
a week but some People from your County are pur- 
chasing Gold & Silver in the city, and that is 
hoarded up as too sacred to be touched for Taxes. 
The Collectors finding Opposition & Difficulty ne- 
glect their Duty & the Commissaries do not care to 
be the only severe People & so all is slow tedious & 
dilatory. If vigor & seasonable exertion could once 
take place all these Difficulties would vanish. 

The Commissaries proceeded to lay the Tax you 
observe & were mistaken till they were set right, 
but the real Fact is they undertook to dispense with 
the Law & tax on a system of their own, in this way 
Delays would be perpetual & inexcusable. 

The Inclemency of the Winter we can readily 
admit as a Reason but it is now several months since 
the snow disappeared & is there not at this Moment 
a great arrearage; surely there is — the Want of 
which we feel most sensibly. The large sums ow- 
ing by Q. Master's & Commissaries will doubtless 
be a Bar of no Inconsiderable Nature to ready money 
Taxes but they will go to liquidate the Demands of 
Congress & so far be useful. I fear there will be 
great abuses & shall be glad of your Opinion what 
preventive may be used. 



124 The Life of William Henry. 

Far from doubting your Zeal & activity in the 

Business, I can only wish that all concerned in the 

Collection of Taxes had half of it & I am persuaded 

our affairs would be In a more promising Condition. 

I am with much esteem, 

Sir your obed. & very 

Humble Serv. 
Joseph Reed. 
July 19, 1780. 
William Henry, Esq., Lancaster. 

The Hon. Joseph Reed to Colonel William 
Henry, Requesting Him and Others to At- 
tend A Conference at Lancaster for the 
Purpose of Instituting Reforms in the Ex- 
ecution OF THE Laws and for the Discus- 
sion OF Kindred Subjects. 

In Council 

Philada. September 22d 1780 
Sir:— 

The Assembly having In their present Session 
taken Into mature deliberation the state of this Com- 
monwealth, and being apprehensive that difficulties 
and obstructions in the execution of some of the most 
necessary and Important Laws have occurred, and 
perhaps real grievances exist, which with due at- 
tention and care may be removed have nominated 



The Life of William Henry. 125 

the Hon. Mr. Bayard, the Speaker of the House, 
and Mr. Rittenhouse, the Treasurer of the State, 
to accompany the President of the State, into your 
County, with a view of meeting some of the prin- 
cipal Gentlemen, and receive such information as 
may be necessary on the above and other interesting 
Subjects. 

In Consequence of which you are requested to 
give notice to the undermentioned publick officers, to 
meet them at Lancaster on the eleventh day of 
October next, where your own attendance will be 
expected, and you will bring with you a Return of 
the payments of the Several Townships of their 
Taxes so as to exhibit at one view the present State 
of the Taxes in your County. And if any Collec- 
tors have money in hand or can by a vigorous exer- 
tion make any payments to you in the meantime, you 
will have a good opportunity to pay the same to the 
Treasurer without the Trouble and expense of a 
Journey to this City. 
I am Sir, 
Your obedient and very humble 

Servant 
Jos Reed, 
President. 
To William Henry Esquire 

Treasurer of the County of Lancaster 



126 The Life of William Henry. 

Persons to be requested to attend — 

1. One of the Commissioners of the Taxes at 
least ; 

2. The Lieutenant of the County; 

3. The Excise Officer; 

4. The first or second Justice of the Quarter Ses- 
sions, as may be most convenient; 

5. The Commissioner of Purchases of the Spe- 
cifick supplies 

6. The Prothonotary of the County with a state 
of the Fines, Penalties, Licenses, Monies, and 
the publick dues accruing in his office since his 
appointment. 

President Reed to Colonel William Henry, 

1780. 
Dear Sir: — 

I received your favor by express & was obliged to 
detain him till I had laid the matter before the As- 
sembly who can alone effect the cure for that ter- 
rible disease which pervades all our departments & 
makes public Business an invidious & insupportable 
Burthen. They have concluded to remove the Cav- 
alry to Lebanon if it can be done & send the Invalid 
Horses over the Susquehanna. As to press War- 
rants, the Law appointing Mr. Wirtz gives him the 
Power required, which ought & must be the Rule of 
his Conduct & in which I hope he will be fully sup- 
ported. I am told the State Money will be made a 



The Life of William Henry. 127 

legal tender but I very much doubt whether that 
will extend its Credit — coercive measures will I fear 
never create public Confidence. Your Letter has 
been read in the House but with what Effect I can- 
not say. 

The Troops you say complain much of wanting 
Soap Candles and Vegetables, & we complain very 
much that the People of Lancaster and other Coun- 
ties will not pay their taxes to enable us to procure 
them these articles. Are not both Complaints rea- 
sonable. Our Treasury is at the lowest possible 
ebb; even the first officers of the State are obliged to 
borrow Money for their Support & this in the rich 
& plentiful State of Pennsylvania, for such it is not- 
withstanding all its Complaints. I am glad you 
have sent a Collector to Prison for peculation — If I 
was an absolute Prince for one Minute I would em- 
ploy it in giving orders for his Execution. Of what 
avail are Laws or of what Consequence is Govern- 
ment unsupported & left to struggle with every piti- 
ful waste & disgrace which a private Gentleman 
would shudder at. Do my good friend open the 
eyes of those about you. It Is Madness & Folly of 
the most pernicious kind to go on thus. Your Mem- 
bers dare not vote for the only Measure that will 
relieve us because they are afraid of doing their duty, 
& disobliging their Constituents. But I must not 
express what I feel or believe In due time they will 
know who understand & pursue their true Interests. 



128 The Life of William Henry. 

All I can say is that whatever hardships & Incon- 
veniences the People of your County suffer from the 
Troops they must thank themselves. In time I hope 
they shall do better. 

I am Sir, Your Obed. & very 

Humble Serv. 
Joseph Reed. 
W. Henry, Esq. Lancaster. 

Colonel Henry's prominence is shown in the 
following letter from President Reed, intro- 
ducing the Count de Deux Fonts. 

Sir:— 

This will be delivered you by the Count de Deux 
Fonts, a Colonel of a Regiment in the Service of the 
King of France, now at Rhode Island. I must re- 
quest your Attention & Civility to him, not only on 
Acct. of his own Merit, which is very great, but as 
he may have some Influence on some of his poor de- 
luded Countrymen who cannot be weaned from their 
absurd Attachment to Great Britain. For this Pur- 
pose I would wish if it is practicable he could have 
Opportunities to converse with the German Clergy- 
men & such Persons of Influence of that Nation as 
might tend to remove Prejudice, convince them of 
the Utility & Honor of our Independence, show 
them the Certainty of its being established, & the 
Necessity of their supporting cheerfully the War for 



The Life of William Henry. 129 

the attainment of that glorious Object — reconcile 
them as British Officers have been doing with so 
much Industry for some time past. 

Your Care herein will do the State a real Ser- 
vice & oblige 

Sir your Obed. Hbble. Serv. 

Joseph Reed. 

P. S. He proposes to go to Lebanon & Reading. 
I shall be glad if you would give him Letters to 
suitable Persons there. 
Indorsed, 

1780, December 21st, to Wm. Henry, Hon. Wm. 
Atlee, Hon. Samuel Atlee, Esq., Philip Marsteller, 
Col. Valentine Eckhart & Henry Haller. 

Colonel Henry to President Reed, in Which 
He Requests a Detail of Troops to Guard 
the Magazines from an Attempt to Blow 
Them up by the British Prisoners. 

Lancaster, March 7, 1781. 
Sir:— 

I was present at the Examination of one of the 
Light Dragoons who overheard some of the British 
prisoners, who had some Conversation concerning 
the Magazines at this place, and they agree that they 
might be blown up with Ease. I am of their opin- 
ion, and wish a guard could be kept here, as there are 

10 



130 The Life of William Henry. 

a number of disaffected People in this Town ; and a 
great Number of the prisoners will be sent to the 
Barracks, as they have a putrid Fever amongst them 
In the Jail; the Barracks are near the Magazine. 
Could not Colo. Hubley be ordered to keep a Com- 
pany of Militia on Duty for that purpose? The 
Amunition is by no means safe, and I understand the 
Quantity is considerable. 
I am, Sir, 
Your most obedient & hum. Servant, 

William Henry. 

His Excellency Joseph Reed, Esq., 

President of the Supreme Executive Council, 
Philadelphia. 




CHAPTER XV. 

The Reed-Henry Correspondence Con- 
tinued; The Revolt of the Penn- 
sylvania Troops. 

HE year 178 1 opened with the ad- 
vantages of the war rather In 
favor of the British, with the 
gradual Impoverishment of the 
country as a formidable ally. 

In addition to this disquieting outlook, the 
disaffection of a part of what was known as 
the Pennsylvania Line, encamped with the 
army at Morrlstown, N. J., precipitated a 
dangerous situation. They declared they 
would serve no longer unless their grievances 
were redressed. Their pay was In arrears, 
the provisions furnished poor and insufficient, 
and their Inadequate clothing gave no protec- 
tion against the severe weather. In an at- 
tempt to suppress the disorder, one officer 
was killed and several officers and privates 
wounded, followed by the withdrawal of thlr- 
131 



132 The Life of William Henry. 

teen hundred Pennsylvanians, who marched 
to Princeton. This tragic affair occurred 
January i, 178 1. 

The news of the outbreak was received with 
keen satisfaction at the British headquarters, 
where it was thought to foreshadow the dis- 
memberment of the American forces. Every 
preparation was made to welcome the insur- 
gents into the British ranks, to whom mes- 
sengers had been sent by General Clinton of- 
fering immunity, the protection of the British 
army and the payment of the wages due them 
by Congress. But the temper of the men was 
misunderstood; their patriotism had not 
abated; the British overtures were spurned, 
and the messengers delivered to the Ameri- 
can authorities. 

As soon as possible, Joseph Reed, President 
of Pennsylvania, hurried to the scene, and 
after appealing to the men and promising 
redress, those whose enlistments had not ex- 
pired returned to camp. 

President Reed refers to this " unhappy dis- 
content " in his letter of January 27, 178 1, to 
Colonel Henry and, in order to guard against 
a recurrence, to stimulate enlistments, which 



The Life of William Henry. 133 

had practically ceased in consequence, and to 
inspire a renewal of confidence, he appoints 
Colonel Henry a special paymaster with in- 
structions to give careful attention to the in- 
terest of both the State and its soldiers. 

Here again is brought to our attention Col- 
onel Henry's availability as a trusted agent 
for negotiating important measures. 

Indeed, whenever it became necessary to 
select a man in whom absolute confidence 
could be placed, or in any capacity demand- 
ing a nice discretion, which his calm and judi- 
cial temperament permitted him to exercise, 
Colonel Henry was chosen by the Supreme 
Executive Council or the Board of War. As 
an illustration of the confidence reposed in his 
versatile qualities as an executive, the board 
authorized him to negotiate and purchase a 
controlling interest in an undeveloped lead 
mine in the southwestern part of Pennsyl- 
vania, and in 1780 he was made chairman of 
a committee composed of Vice-President Wil- 
liam Moore of the State, Colonel John Bull 
and himself to regulate the price of flour. 



134 The Life of William Henry. 

In Council, 
Philadelphia, January 27, 1781. 
Sir: 

The late unhappy discontent of the Pennsylvania 
Line, which has terminated almost in a very con- 
siderable Reduction, have rendered it necessary for 
us to adopt some plan of recruiting, by which like 
difficulties may not occur in future. Many soldiers 
have been attested by their officers and others, with 
so little formality, as to open a door to innumerable 
Complaints, both on that score, and the payment of 
the Bounty. To obviate these in future, we have 
adopted the plan in the inclosed printed paper, and 
depending on your accuracy, and regard to the Pub- 
lick Interests have nominated you to attest the new 
i.nlisted Recruits, as well as to pay them the Bounty, 
for which purpose we enclose you an order of the 
State Treasurer on the County Treasurer, for the 
sum of Five hundred pounds State Money, to be 
paid to officers and soldiers agreeable to our plan. 
The Commanding Officer of each Regiment is to 
give you a list of the officers appointed by him to 
Recruit, and you will be carefull to take receipts for 
the levy money, and double Receipts for the Bounty 
as well as double inlistments and attestations, from 
the soldiers. The Receipts to be filled up, agreeable 
to the fourth Article of Instructions. 

The Council purpose to recommend to the As- 
sembly, to make a generous allowance for your 



The Life of William Henry. 135 

service, and we request your care, that every Attes- 
tation be duly returned to the Board, that this 
important service may be conducted with, fairness to 
the Soldiers, and a due regard to the Interests of the 
State. 

I am Sir 
Your obedient and very 

humble Servant 

Jos. Reed 
President. 
To William Henry Esquire 
Lancaster. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Correspondence with Hon. Joseph 
Reed, Hon. William Moore, General 
Anthony Wayne and Judge William 
Atlee. 

President Reed to Colonel William Henry, 
Sir:— 

Your several Favors of the 3d & 7 & I2th Inst, 
have been received & w^ould have answered sooner 
but for my Indisposition. We are sorry to find 
the Officers of the Army decline accepting the two 
Dollars, as we hoped in their distressed State for 
Want of Pay & Necessaries that this Sum would 
not have been beneath their Notice. If as a Symp- 
tom of finding themselves in a more comfortable 
State of Finance we should rejoice to hear it, but if 
it is too little for the Officers we think it too much 
for the Serjeant. Mr. W's Conduct has been the 
Subject of much Consideration & we are partly de- 
termined to remove him, but the Difficulty is to 
appoint the Successor — We really have a Reluc- 
tance to appoint Persons to Offices who have declined 
them in Days of Difficulty & are also disinclined to 
the Government; but if suitable Persons of another 
136 



The Life of William Henry. 137 

Character cannot be had we must appoint the others 
— ^You may depend upon It some Thing will be done 
shortly on this Subject. 

With respect to the Guard at the Magazines we 
supposed the Property to be of the United States, 
& have accordingly made strong Representations to 
the Board of War, accompanied with an Extract 
from your Letter & also from Col. Hubley on that 
Subject — As soon as any Determination is had we 
will let you know. 

As Col. Atlee is now going home we hope he will 
put his Lieutenants Accounts in such Train as that 
you may receive the Money which may be due the 
Public from that Quarter. We are most exceed- 
ingly distressed for Want even of small Sums, the 
Treasury being deplorably low & not in any likely 
Way to be recruited very soon. 

You may depend upon it that no Use will be made 
of your Name in any Proceedings which respect 
Mr. W. 

We are very apprehensive that Congress will 
order the Convention Prisoners to the Number of 
2500 or 3,000 to be stationed at Lancaster & York. 
We have wrote to our Delegates & done every Thing 
in our Power to prevent it, but we fear with little 
Effect. A Representation from the Inhabitants of 
Lancaster to their Members of Assembly would 
probably have a good Effect if the Measure appears 



138 The Life of William Henry. 

to them disadvantageous to the State in general or 
the Town in particular. 

I am Sir, 

your Obed. Hbble. Ser. 

Jos. Reed. 
P. S. You will please to pay the Recruits their 
second Bounty as it becomes due, Council having 
given Directions for that Purpose which we hoped 
you had received. 
March 13, 1781. 

Lancaster's proximity to the seat of war 
made her very susceptible to its ravages. 
The county was the granary of the State — we 
might almost say of the country — and as the 
struggle dragged its slow length along, the 
heavy drain upon its resources manifested it- 
self in discontented murmurs. Every house 
in the town, public and private, was crowded 
to the eaves with refugees, soldiers and pris- 
oners of war, as many as three thousand 
British officers and men being confined there 
at one time, the privates In the barracks, and 
the officers under parole in public houses, and 
In private families. This large addition to 
the normal population was the cause of con- 
siderable distress, as indicated in Colonel 
Henry's interesting letter of the twenty-sixth 



,The Life of William Henry. 139 

of April to the Hon. William Atlee, one of 
the Justices of the Supreme Court of Penn- 
sylvania, from which we get a glimpse of the 
conditions from which the citizens as well as 
the prisoners suffered. Judge Atlee was a 
native of Lancaster. 

Lancaster, 26th April, 1781. 
Dear Sir: — 

I received your favor of the 23rd inst., with a 
paper, for which I am much obliged. Five hundred 
and two prisoners of war arrived here last week 
and one hundred and fifty-four this day. They 
are in the Barracks under a subaltern and a guard 
of twenty men. Several of them I intend to send 
to jail, for they have been in our service and deserted. 
We will not be able to furnish meat for them — not 
even two-thirds of the allowance — therefore, would 
it not be well to give more Bread and less meat? 
This matter is worthy of your attention before you 
leave Philadelphia. Our town is now in distress 
for want of meats of all kinds. Mrs. Atlee and 
the children are well. Your Servant was taken ill, 
the Doctor says with Jail fever, but he will be 
removed to the Hospital in the Barracks. 
I am with due respect Sir, 
Your Humble Servant, 

William Henry. 
Hon. Wm. Atlee. 



140 The Life of William Henry. 

Colonel Henry's letter to Samuel Hodgdon, 
Assistant Adjutant General at Philadelphia, 
brings to our attention the culminating dan- 
gers arising from an empty treasury. In 
this instance a company of dragoons whose 
term of service had expired but had not been 
paid, asked to be allowed to retain their horses 
as payment on account, a measure Colonel 
Henry strongly recommended, and when re- 
fused threatened, and actually did take forci- 
ble possession of their mounts and accoutre- 
ments. 

Colonel Henry was apprehensive that the 
British prisoners, taking advantage of the 
incidental confusion, might attempt to rush 
the guard, overpower the small garrison and 
make a break for freedom. 

Lancaster, the 30th April, 1781. 
Sir: 

In consequence of orders from the War Office 
Major Green the commanding officer here ordered 
the Dragoons to deliver up their Horses with their 
accoutrements. They by their sergeant's requested 
that they might keep them for a few days till Gen- 
eral Armond returned from Philadelphia, but as 
Major Green's orders were peremptory he would 
not agree to their proposal. The Dragoons refused 



The Life of William Henry. 141 

to obey orders and marched off from their parade, 
and on their being threatened with the infantry said 
they would go to York, and filed off that way. 
However, by the prudent management of the offi- 
cers they agreed to deliver up the horses and ac- 
coutrements immediately. Major Green and sev- 
eral other officers requested that the sale should be 
postponed till Saturday, to which we have agreed. 
The horses and accoutrements are still in the hands 
of the men. I believe that if they were allowed 
to bid for their horses they would go off much 
higher than they will for cash. A meeting among 
the troops here may be attended with serious con- 
sequences and if possible should be avoided, at least 
till the prisoners could be removed. What has 
happened today must have given them (the prison- 
ers) high pleasure. I hope this day's work will not 
have an evil effect on the infantry here. If it should 
the consequences are evident. If the officers and 
foot soldiers were permitted to purchase it would 
be more aggreeable to the whole. 

Your most obedient and humble servant, 

William Henry 
Samuel Hodgdon, Esq. 

Here follows a characteristic letter from 
General Anthony Wayne who was then in 
Lancaster to Colonel Henry, urging the equip- 
ment of a company of dragoons. 



142 The Life of William Henry. 

Lancaster, i6th May, 1781. 
Dear Sir: — 

Your known attachment to the American cause, 
and the readiness with which you have on all occa- 
sions exerted your self to promote the true interest 
of our Country, leaves no room to doubt but that 
everything in your power will be done for the im- 
mediate equipment of the dragoons belonging to this 
State. I have, therefore, called for fitting out Sixty 
Horse of Col. Moylan's regiment, whose services to 
the southward is of the last importance. 

I have the honor to be your obedient, humble Ser. 
Anthony Wayne. 
Brigadier General. 
William Henry, Esq. 

Colonel Henry's Reply to General Wayne's 
Letter of the Same Date. 

Lancaster, May i6th, 1781. 
Sir: 

I am honoured with yours of this day. It would 
give me real pleasure to have it in my power to 
equip the sixty-eight Dragoons with the Articles 
mentioned in Major Fontleroy's Return, but my 
situation with respect to business done for the pub- 
lic is not the most agreeable. I have advanced a 
large sum of money belonging to Pennsylvania, for 
the United States and do not know when I can be 
repaid: — it is true I have some leather in hand be- 



, The Life of William Henry. 143 

longing to the United States perhaps sufficient to fur- 
nish leather accoutrements for Sixty Dragoons and 
that is all. If his Excellency the President in Coun- 
cil could give orders for equipping the Dragoons be- 
fore mentioned I think it might be done in two or 
three weeks and the accounts may be kept without 
throwing the State into any confusion In their settle- 
ment with Congress. The value of leather made 
use of may be passed to the Credit of the United 
States and the workmanship be charged. 
I am Sir, 

Your most obedient 
and Humble servant, 
William Henry, 
To. B. General Wayne. 

Hon. Joseph Reed to Colonel Henry, Rela- 
tive TO General Wayne's Requisition 
FOR THE Equipment of Sixty 
Dragoons. 

General Green's repulse at Camden, S. C, 
is also noted as well as General Marion's 
movements in the same state. 

In Council 
Philadelphia, May 21st, 1781. 
Sir:— 

General Wayne has transmitted to us and the 
Board of War a copy of your letter to him of six- 



144 The Life of William Henry. 

teenth Inst., wherein you observe that if Council 
will give orders for equipping the Sixty dragoons 
you will provide them in two weeks. You must be 
sensible that this mode of turning over the money 
from State to Congress is not perfectly agreeable 
to us, and we wish to avoid it as much as possible, 
but in the present case we are so anxious to do 
everything in our power, that we consent to it upon 
the following terms, which your known punctuality 
in business assures us you will comply with, viz. 
That you furnish the Board of War immediately 
with a return of the money expended, and if there 
are any former monies under the same predicament 
to include them, and at the same time forward an 
order on the Board in favor of Mr. Rittenhouse 
which being negotiated with the Treasurer of the 
United States it may enable us to take credit in his 
books for the sum and you at the same have credit 
with Mr. Rittenhouse. 

General Greene has received a small Check at 
Camden in consequence of a sally made by Lord 
Rawdon, but it is not of much consequence, as he 
immediately reinvested the place — his loss is one 
hundred and three killed, wounded and missing — 
the Enemy lost Sixty Prisoners, other losses not 
known. General Marion surprised a Post of one 
Hundred Men (Seventy three British troops), a 
few days before. General Greene seems assured of 



, The Life of William Henry. 145 

final success at Camden, which we hope a few days 
will realize. 

I am Sir 
Your obedient and very 

humble Servant, 

Jos. Reed. 
President 
William Henry Esq 
at Lancaster. 



II 




CHAPTER XVII. 

From Colonel William Henry to the 
Honorable Joseph Reed, President 
OF Pennsylvania, Suggesting a Plan 
TO Avert Financial Disaster. 

HIS remarkable letter is in reply to 
a request for a plan to relieve the 
monetary stringency. The situ- 
ation was becoming desperate. 
The war chest was empty, with no visible 
means for its replenishment. The troops had 
not been paid, and while some were murmur- 
ing others were in open revolt at the long- 
delayed arrival of the paymaster. It was in 
this extremity that President Reed appealed to 
Colonel Henry, whose recommendations on a 
former occasion, when the conditions were 
less acute, had received the thoughtful consid- 
eration of the Council. Thus far no one had 
shown any capacity to cope with the financial 
problems precipitated by the war. It is true 
Robert Morris had raised money on his per- 
sonal credit but had formulated no plan to 
provide for a permanent revenue, or for plac- 
146 



, The Life of William Henry. 147 

Ing an European loan. Henry's letter, which 
antedates by a year Morris's subsequent 
recommendations, suggests both, and exhibits 
a knowledge of the fundamental law govern- 
ing the Issue of paper money, and of finance, 
quite unusual at that day, " the very absence 
of which," according to a British estimate, 
'^ that had brought the Confederation face 
to face with bankruptcy." It will thus be 
seen that Henry was far in advance of his 
day in his grasp of the financial situation con- 
fronting not only his own country but Europe. 

This letter President Reed submitted to 
the Supreme Executive Council, and Its sug- 
gestions subsequently adopted by Robert 
Morris; In which connection it is Interesting 
to note that what Lord Liverpool advocated 
In his letter to the King In 1 8 1 8 Is more than 
foreshadowed by Henry thirty-seven years be- 
fore. 

Premising that the basis of all paper cur- 
rency must necessarily be specie, Henry pro- 
poses a clear and feasible plan for its accumu- 
lation by the enactment of laws requiring the 
payment of certain licenses, and duties on im- 
ports in coin, and further recommends as a 



148 The Life of William Henry. 

basis of security for placing a loan with for- 
eign bankers, the revenue from an excise tax. 
This latter he strongly urges as a moral as 
well as an economic measure, and taking It as 
a whole the letter Is original and masterly and 
worthy a minister of finance of our own day. 

Lancaster, the 26th day of May, 1781. 
Dear Sir: — 

It is paying me a greater compliment than my 
poor abilities have any claim to, to ask my opinion 
on the present intricate state of our affairs. I will, 
however, give it without further apology. 

The principal reasons why our paper money is in 
so little repute with the people seems to be the fol- 
lowing: — Government has no specie to circulate 
with the paper, nor can it at any time exchange a 
considerable part of it for specie. The natural basis 
of all paper credit is specie, and the value we put in 
paper is in proportion to the quanity of specie it 
will purchase. Therefore some method should be 
taken to procure at least a part of the revenue in 
specie. This is not impracticable. Why cannot 
tavern licenses, marriage licenses, and licenses for 
distilling grain be paid in specie? The petitioner 
has one whole year to provide the money, and his 
private interests will stimulate him to it. It is true, 
as the laws now stand, no man is obliged to take a 



, The Life of William Henry. 149 

license for the distilling of grain, but would it not 
be good policy to enact such a law, and thereby 
oblige the owners of stills above a certain size to 
have them registered in the county where they live? 
This would enable the Government to form an esti- 
mate of the amount of this part of the revenue, which 
I am persuaded it cannot do at present. Under the 
late Government the excise on spirituous liquors 
was said to be worth £6,000 per annum. If the 
licenses aforesaid were raised 50 per ct. this would 
bring in a handsome revenue without distressing the 
subject, and would be attended with good conse- 
quence to the people at large in preventing numbers 
of dram-shops being kept, which at present are a 
nuisance; and it would be ample security to any 
gentleman, at home or abroad, for a payment of a 
sum of money to answer the present emergencies of 
the Government. Might not all fines and for- 
feitures in courts of justice be paid in specie? And 
duties on foreign imports might be paid in specie, or 
merchandise suitable for the support of the army. 
The Government has put paper into the hands of 
the people, and ought to receive it again in taxes, 
though not at a depreciated value. To prevent this 
the taxes ought to be laid in specie, payable in wheat, 
at a certain value in proportion to the distance from 
the market, or the value in paper to be ascertained 
by council, weekly; and to prevent fraud in collec- 
tors, they ought to give printed receipts to the people, 



150 The Life of William Henry. 

and deliver in to the commissioner of the tax the 
amount of all moneys by them received, and the 
time w^hen, which would enable the commissioner 
often to district the collectors. The same method 
would be of use in collecting militia fines, and pre- 
vent numerous abuses which have happened. Col- 
lectors of taxes and militia money ought to be pun- 
ishable with fine or imprisonment, or both, for ex- 
torting more from the people than the law requires, 
which there is every reason to believe is practiced, 
especially among the Germans. 

When I wrote in favor of the tender law, as it is 
called, I meant such a one as would in some degree 
have been adequate to the purpose, which the present 
one is not. It is too tedious in Its operation to be 
of any use. At present the best calculated would not 
answer any good purpose, therefore it ought to be 
repealed. If the tender act is repealed Government 
may then receive the money outstanding for unpat- 
ented lands at specie value, which It ought, and it 
will not be necessary to hold these moneys, as a fund 
for the £500,000 for that will depreciate to very 
little before it can be collected in taxes. But I have, 
perhaps, said more than enough. 

I have the honor to be your friend and humble 
servant, 

William Henry. 
To his Excellency Joseph Reed, President of Penn- 
sylvania. 



. The Life of William Henry. 151 

Quoting again from the Journal of October 
26, 178 1, It Is recorded that great excitement 
prevailed when the joyful news reached Lan- 
caster of the capture of the British Army at 
Yorktown, " Church bells rang all day, salvos 
of artillery were fired and a constant dis- 
charge of small arms continued until late at 
night. All houses were illuminated." 

Colonel Henry to President Moore, of the 
Supreme Executive Council of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Lancaster, January 7, 1782. 
Sir:— 

Colonel Antll has return'd Seventy-Seven Men 
of his Regiment, (exclusive of Six killed before 
York, in Virginia,) belonging to the Pennsylvania 
Line, who have not received the Gratuity allowed 
by a Resolution of Assembly of the 8th March, 
1 78 1. Gen. Hazen has certified to me that the 
said Return is true, etc. The people insisted on 
having the Nine pounds State Money paid in Specie, 
as the State Money was a legal Tender when the 
Gratuity was given, and at present was not. I re- 
fused payment at that Rate, and left the Matter 
to be determined by Council, aledging that the 
Money was better now than at the Time the Line 



152 The Life of William Henry. 

received the Gratuity, etc. They were extremely 
clamorous and pressing for the Money, aledging 
that the New England Men of their Reg. had re- 
ceived a Gratuity of 24 Specie Dollars each ; several 
of them agreed at last to receive the Exchange (that 
Is one for Three here) In Lieu of the Nine Pounds 
State Money, which I agreed to and have paid them 
at that Rate ; but still the Matter Is to be determined 
by Council, whether they are to have the State 
Money paid In Specie or not. I have given them 
very little Encouragement, telling them that if theirs 
was to be made good, the remainder of the Line 
would expect the same would be done for them, etc. 
You win be pleased to determine this affair as 
soon and explicit as possible. I have paid the 
Widow of one of the Men killed before York, In 
Virginia, as her Husband was entitled to it In his 
life Time, Col. Antll having certified that she was 
the Wife of the deceased. There are a Number of 
State Certificates for the Depreciation of the Soldiers 
Pay In the Hands of the Men here, would it not be 
the Interest of the Government to order them to be 
purchased? They are sold for Two Shillings and 
Six pence In the pound, to Storekeepers, etc. I have 
paid oif Mr. RIttenhouses' Orders, and should be 
glad he would draw any Money he may want in 
these Parts, as there are but few good Opportunities 
of Sending Dollars (which Is the Principal part of 



The Life of William Henry. 153 

the Money which comes in for the Taxes) to Phil- 
adelphia. The Gold I can send conveniently. 
I am, Sir, Your very obedient, 

& humble Servant, 
William Henry. 
His Excellency, William Moore, Esquire, Presi- 
dent of Council, Philadelphia. 

From Col. William Henry to President 
Moore of Pennsylvania in Which He 
Desires a Settlement of His Accounts. 

Lancaster May 29th 1782 
Sir. 

I have advanced £2,448. towards Recruiting the 
Pennsylvania Line, forty-eight pounds more than I 
have orders for. The Recruiting Service goes on 
but slowly. I should for my part be glad to have 
my Accounts settled, and perhaps it would be pru- 
dent for Col. Thompson to have his settled with 
the officers, as there is little more to be done at 
present. I returned yesterday from Carlisle, where 
I was summoned to give evidence in behalf of the 
State in General Roberdeau's action for Damages 
sustained in carrying on the Lead Works in Juniata. 
The Jury found for the State generally. 
I am, Sir, 

Your Obedt. hum. Servt. 

William Henry 
His Excellency 

William Moore Esq. 



154 The Life of William Henry. 

Sanctioned by Washington as an act of 
courtesy, the British In 1782 established a 
warehouse In Lancaster for the purpose of 
supplying the prisoners with articles, prin- 
cipally delicacies, not otherwise obtainable. 
This was British merchandise, and In the 
course of time It was discovered that the store- 
keeper, through one John Musser, was surrep- 
titiously selling It to the people of the county 
for the benefit and profit of the prisoners, 
at less than they could buy from the local 
shop-keepers, exacting coin in payment, thus 
Inflicting two serious injuries: depleting the 
country of Its specie, and by under-selling the 
dealers destroying their livelihood. 

Colonel Henry, who was not slow in grasp- 
ing the situation, submitted the facts to the 
Hon. William Moore, President of the Su- 
preme Executive Council, in the following 
letter : 

Lancaster, June 25th, 1782. 
Dear Sir: — 

You remember Lord North said in Parllment that 
the mode of carrying on the war In America must be 
altered, but I am afraid we are not acquainted with 
the method they intend to persue. They harrass our 
trade at sea and thereby prevent our getting specie. 



The Life of William Henry. 155 

They are taking every possible method of drawing 
it out of the country. 

A large quanity of British goods said to be for 
the use of the prisoners of war have been brought 
to this place, Philadelphia, and York, by permission. 

These are procured at the store by the prisoners 
and then hawked about the town and country and 
sold to the Inhabitants. This money of course cen- 
tres in their store. There is still if possible a greater 
evil. There are some gentlemen in Philadelphia 
who have aggreed to furnish the British paymaster 
with money to pay the prisoners which I am in- 
formed takes £3000 : per month. The last payment 
has been made in bank notes, which of course must 
be changed to specie. This money also centres in 
the hands of the British storekeeper, for he has every- 
thing in greater perfection and cheaper than the 
local merchants have and is sure of the custom of the 
prisoners. 

But how are these evils to be remedied? Very 
easily. We have nothing to do but prevent them 
from keeping a store in our country, and then if we 
do go on furnishing them with specie for their paper 
they will be obliged to pay it out again among us. 

I am informed the gentlemen who furnish the 
pay-master with money have 2d on the dollar and 
this on £36,000 per annum is a handsome profit, 
though poor America does loose the principal. 



156 The Life of William Henry. 

I do wish something could be done In this matter. 
If there Is not, the consequence Is obvious, 
I remain dear Sir 

Your Humble Servant 
William Henry. 
To His excellency, 
William Moore, 

President of Pennsylvania. 

Acting upon the information contained in 
Colonel Henry's communication to President 
Moore, William Bradford, Jr., Attorney Gen- 
eral of the State, authorized the arrest of 
Musser and the seizure of the merchandise. 

Philada July 8 1782 
Dear Sir: 

Inclosed you w^Ill receive an attachment against 
certain Goods In the possession of John Musser In 
Lancaster, supposed to be British. Information has 
been lodged w^Ith Council that this man carries on 
a clandestine & dishonorable trade with the British 
Store & that at this time there Is a large quantity 0^ 
Goods packed up In flour Casks In his house or 
possession. I have to request that you will Immedi- 
ately upon the receipt of the enclosed send for the 
Sheriff or one of the most active of his officers, and 
give him directions for executing the Attachment 
with all possible Expedition & Secresy. I am clearly 
of opinion that he has a right to break open outer 



, The Life of William Henry. 157 

or inner doors, if necessary for the Execution of the 
writ; and that if any opposition be made he ought 
to raise the posse comitatus & force obedience from 
those who attempt to oppose him. 

Every endeavor ought to be used to stop this ruin- 
ous trade, and Council have desired me to ask your 
assistance in this business as a person on whom they 
can fully rely. 

I am Sir 

Your most obedient 
& very humble Serv. 
Wm Bradford Jun. 
William Henry Esq. 

P. S. If the Sheriff should be fortunate enough 
to seize the goods before they are removed, he must 
store them in some safe and secure place (as he 
will be answerable for them), make an inventory, 
& return the inventory & his answer to the writ on 
the 24th Day of next September. 

From Colonel Henry's letter of July 29, 
1782, to the Honorable George Bryan, we are 
Informed that the Instructions of Attorney- 
General Bradford representing the Supreme 
Council of Safety had been complied with. 

Lancaster, July 29, 1782. 
Dear Sir: — 

I happened to be abroad when your favor of the 
15th inst. came to hand. By orders from Council 



158 The Life of William Henry. 

I have taken into my possession all Goods, Wares 
and Merchandize belonging to Mr. Taylor, the 
British Storekeeper here; except made up Uniforms; 
also his books and papers. This has given much 
disquiet to the Speculators here. 

Evidence and much circumstantial to corroborate 
it can be produced. I do not Care to take Deposi- 
tions, unless they were Official. This affair has 
made much Noise and I believe will make much 
more. Would it not be well for Council to order 
the Deposition of the Evidence to be taken and sent 
down, or is it best to wait and let the affair take its 
Course? I am of the opinion Mr. Taylor will ap- 
pear and plead Gen'l Washington's permission at the 
Supreme Court, if permitted, which is given in 
such general Terms, that it will cover the supplying 
of the Prisoners with any kind or rather with every 
Kind of Goods. Mr. Taylor confessed the Goods 
came from New York. The Entry made in one 
of his Books, is the only Proof which can be made 
of his having sold Goods directly to the people of 
this place and this will not amount to positive proof, 
for the Entries are not dated at Lancaster ; it is true 
the day of the Month is mentioned, but the year I 
believe is not. Will it not be necessary first to inves- 
tigate the affair prior to the Tryal of Taylor, before 
the Supreme Court — as this is the only Charge in his 
Book against any of the Inhabitants for Goods. 

We have disagreeable Accounts from the West- 



, The Life of William Henry. 159 

ward; Hannah's Town Is burnt & several of the 
Inhabitants killed, and Four or Five taken prisoners 
or rather missing. 

I am 
Dear Sir 
Your most obed' hum. Serv' 

William Henry. 
To the Honorable George Bryan Esquire. 

In making the seizure a quantity of wine 
was confiscated, the personal property, it was 
claimed, of the British officers, prisoners of 
war on parole, who appealed to Colonel 
Henry, as well as to the President of the 
State for its release, which was afterwards 
granted. 

Lancaster, 2d July, 1782. 
Sir:— 

As I understand that you, by an Order from the 
Supreme Council of Pennsylvania, have seized upon 
all the Goods, etc., that remained In Mr. Taylor's 
store, I beg leave to Inform you that the Wine Is 
not his property but actually purchased for the Offi- 
cers & sick Soldiers. The reason why it was left 
In Mr. Taylor's Cellar Is owing to the Officers not 
having a proper convenience at their Quarters, and 
they took It out as It was wanted for use. I there- 
fore hope you will order It to be given up. 

Whatever has been the Cause for taking this step. 



i6o The Life of William Henry. 

It certainly never can be attributed to the Officers, 
and I must think It hard Indeed, If they are to lose 
any of their private property, particularly under the 
sanction of General Washington's Passport, men- 
tioning Table stores In w^hlch wine Is most certainly 
Included. 

I am. Sir, 
Your most obed' humble servant, 

Alex' Arbuthnot, 

Cap. 8oth Reg. 
Wlll'm Henry, Esqr., Lancaster. 
Indorsed, 

Read In Council, July 5th, 1782. 

General Moses Hazen writes to William 
Henry, in which he expresses the fear that if 
some provision is not made to pay the troops 
a civil war may be the consequence. He 
presents his compliments to Mrs. Henry, to 
whom he was indebted for courtesies when 
stationed in Lancaster. 

POMPTON 

23d Feby. 1783. 
Dear Sir: — 

Before this will reach you I judge you will be in 
possession of the money I left you a power to receive. 
In which case I beg to remit the Ballance, over what 
may be due to you, to Col. Clement BIddle at Phil- 
adelphia, or his order. 



, The Life of William Henry. i6i 

I do most sincerely congratulate you and my 
friends at Lancaster on the present flattering pros- 
pects of peace. The conduct of the State of Rhode 
Island by their disregarding the call of Congress in 
not passing the impost act is reprobated here by all 
orders & degrees of men, and that of Virginia Re- 
pealing the same act once passed is no less unaccount- 
able. What may be the consequence of an Honbl 
Peace without funds established for the payment of 
debts due to the Army & other public creditors, is 
hard to say — there are some politicians who openly 
suggest that the Army will not quietly lay down 
their arms untill they see a disposition in the people 
to do Justice to them and other public creditors. 

A little time must now determine whether we 
have another campaign or not. 

Compliments to Mrs. Henry, and beg you will 
believe me to be Dear Sir 

Yours most sincerely 
Moses Hazen 
William Henry Esq. 

That General Hazen's fears were well 
founded is shown in the following disturbing 
letter from Colonel Henry to President Dick- 
inson, in which he announces the departure of 
a mutinous body of armed troops for Phila- 
delphia, bent upon getting their long overdue 

12 



i62 The Life of William Henry. 

pay, either by fair means or foul. Fortu- 
nately before they reached the city they were 
intercepted by a committee of citizens who 
persuaded them to disband, after assurances 
of redress. 

Lancaster, June 17th, 1783. 
Sir:— 

Eighty armed soldiers set off this morning for 
Philadelphia to Co-operate with those now in the 
City in such measures as may appear to them the 
most likely to procure their pay (or perhaps to possess 
themselves of money at any rate) I have thought 
it my duty to give the most timely information pos- 
sible that the City may not be surprised. I am in- 
formed that part of Gen'l Armond's Corps will be 
here to-morrow on their way to Philadelphia, and 
am of opinion from what has transpired from some 
of the men who are still here, that they will follow 
the others to the City and share the same fate. They 
have thrown out several threats that they will rob 
the Bank, the Treasury, etc. 

I have the honor to be 
Your obedient Humble Servant, 

William Henry. 
His Excellency 
John Dickinson 

President of Penna. 



, The Life of William Henry. 163 

Unperturbed by impending financial disas- 
ter, it is refreshing to observe State Treasurer 
Rittenhouse's interest in a comparison of the 
temperatures of Philadelphia and Lancaster. 

From David Rittenhouse to Colonel Henry. 

Dear Sir: — 

I enclose a receipt for £810 on account of cash 
advanced by you to the recruiting officers. All the 
other receipts I had before delivered to the Post. I 
have not yet received the £100 to be repaid by Mr. 
Slough. Perhaps you meant to have it deducted 
from your last payment as I gave you credit for it 
some time ago. 

I wish our thermometers could be compared to- 
gether. If they agree it would appear that the air 
is warmer at Lancaster than here. At 3 o'clock on 
Saturday last the mercury stood at almost 94, at the 
same hour Sunday at 93, and On Monday at 91 in 
my observatory with all the windows open. The 
same difference has been observed before. 
I am Dear Sir, 

Your most obedient Servent, 

David Rittenhouse. 
Wm. Henry, Esq. 

Rittenhouse and Henry had much in com- 
mon to make their intercourse agreeable; in 



164 The Life of William Henry. 

temperament, as well as in their scientific pur- 
suits, they were congenial spirits, and that the 
former regarded Henry with no common sen- 
timent we have but to read the concluding 
lines from his letter to Henry of June 10, 
1784. The body of the letter which is 
omitted refers to routine matters connected 
with the State Treasury. 

Shall we never see you in Philadelphia again? 
I have many things to say to you, but hate vi^rlting 
too much to converse vv^ith you by letter. 
I am Dear Sir, 

Yours affectionately, 
David Rittenhouse. 

When the war was in progress Colonel 
Henry's visits to Philadelphia were frequent, 
where they never failed to meet, but as a dele- 
gate to the Congress of 1784-85 his engage- 
ments took him to Trenton, and finally to 
New York, where he was stricken in Decem- 
ber of 1785. Hearing of his illness Ritten- 
house wrote to Jno. Joseph Henry, expressing 
the hope that his father would recover. Re- 
ferring to his father's intimacy with Ritten- 
house, Judge Henry, in a contribution to 



, The Life of William Henry. 165 

Rees' Encyclopedia states: " During a course 
of many years my father was In the habit of 
communicating all his discoveries In the vari- 
ous branches of mechanical science to Dr. 
Rittenhouse." 

From the night they took their seats to- 
gether as members of the American Philo- 
sophical Society in 1767 until Henry's death 
they enjoyed an uninterrupted friendship. 




CHAPTER XVIII. 

Is Elected to the Congress of 1784, '85 
AND '86 AND Dies in Office — Sum- 
mary OF HIS Career. 

OLONEL HENRY received many 
honors and deserved them; the 
last to be conferred was his elec- 
tion by the Assembly of Pennsyl- 
vania to the Congresses of 1784, '85 and '86, 
which convened in Trenton and New York. 
It gave him pleasure to find among his co- 
adjutors his old friend and compatriot Hon. 
Joseph Reed. An extract from the minutes 
of the General Assembly showing the result 
of the election of delegates, is given below. 

State of Pennsylvania, General Assembly. 

Tuesday, November i6th, 1784, A.M. 

Agreeable to the order of the day the House pro- 
ceeded to the election of Delegates to represent this 
State in the Congress of the United States for the 
ensuing year, and the ballots being taken it appeared 
that the Honorable Joseph Reed, Cadwallader 
166 



The Life of William Henry. 167 

Morris, William Montgomery, Joseph Gardner and 
William Henry of Lancaster, Esquires were duly 
elected. 

Extract from the Minutes, 

J. Wallus, 
Assistant Clerk of the General Assembly. 



We have found that he served on at least 
two committees, Coinage and Indian Affairs, 
for both of which he was singularly well 
equipped; and that he took an active and in- 
telligent interest in the transactions of Con- 
gress we have the testimony of his letters. 
From among them we select one to the Hon. 
George Bryan, and two written in conjunc- 
tion with Mr. Gardner, who was also a dele- 
gate from Pennsylvania, to the Hon. John 
Dickinson, President of the State; one of 
which is a reply to a memorial of the mer- 
chants and traders of Philadelphia petitioning 
Congress to prevent further depredations by 
the corsairs of the Barbary Coast. Immu- 
nity had to be purchased, an imposition that 
the young republic was the first power to suc- 
cessfully resist and punish. 



i68 The Life of William Henry. 

Hon. William Henry and Joseph Gardner to 
President Dickinson, 1785. 

New York, February 7th, 1785. 



The Wyoming dispute rests at present, and we 
hope will do so for some time — ^we have seen Mr. 
Wilson and rec' by him some additional papers to 
those brought on by Mr. Hervy, relating to that 
unhappy dispute. 

The Report of a Committee upon your Exc ys 
letter, with your enclosures, relative to the appoint- 
ment of additional Comm'rs for settling & adjust- 
ing the accts. of the Citizens of Penn. against the 
United States, remains undetermined until a report 
is brought in to prevent frauds supposed to be prac- 
ticed by some persons having unsettled accts., and 
stated to Congress by Mr. Denning, Commr. in 
this state, which we hope will be made to morrow. 

The first report, as brought in, and which we 
have reason to believe will pass, comes up fully to 
the Idea of the Legislature as expressed in the act, 
and we hope they will see the propriety of a further 
suspension of the operation of that Law rather than 
suffer the state to be reproached with an unfoederal 
measure, especially as the objects of it can suffer 



The Life of William Henry. 169 

very little by a delay of a week or 10 days, and 
perhaps not half that time. 

We are, with due respect, 

Your exc'ys very humble serv'ts., 

William Henry, 
Joseph Gardner. 

His exc'y the President of Penna. 



Council to Delegates in Congress, 1785. 

In Council, 

February 17th, 1785. 

Gentlemen : — 

We enclose a Copy of a Memorial lately presented 
to us by the Merchants & Traders of this City con- 
cerning Captures by Barbary Corsairs. 

The matter is of so much Moment, that we desire 
you will immediately bring it before Congress, & 
endeavor to have the most proper Measures adopted 
for preventing the mischiefs that are apprehended. 
Your obe'd & very humble Servant, 

John Dickinson, 
Presid't of Pen?tsylvania. 

To The Honorable Delegates of Pennsylvania in 
Congress. 



I70 The Life of William Henry. 

Memorial of Merch'ts of Philadelphia, 1785. 

To his Excellency the Presid't and the H'ble the 
Supreme Executive Council of the Common- 
wealth of Pennsylvania. 

The Memorial of the Merch'ts & Traders of the 
City of Philadelphia by their Commltte; 
Respectfully Sheweth, 

That the Capture of an American Vessel by the 
Corsairs of Barbary gives this Committee Real & 
Just apprehensions of future depredation, on our 
trade from the same quarter. 

Upon an occasion so extremely Important, it is 
the duty of this Committee to entreat that Councill 
will Represent to Congress the Necessity of en- 
deavoring Speedily to conciliate the states of Barbary 
to us by presents, as it Is practiced by most of the 
Commercial Nations in Europe, or by treatys to be 
entered into with them as shall be deemed expedient 
by the Wisdom of that Body. 

We trust the Necessity of the Case will Induce 
Councill to take the earliest opportunity of Laying 
this business before the United States in Congress, 
in such manner as shall appear to them most likely to 
produce the Remedy prayed for. 

Philadelphia, 17, February, 1785. 

J. M. Nesbitt, 
Tho's Fitzsimons, 
J. Ross, 



The Life of William Henry. 171 

MoRDECAi Lewis, 
John Nixon, 
Tench Coxe, 
Geo. Clymer, 
Sam'l Howell, 
John Wilcocks, 
Isaac Hazlehurst, 
Clement Biddle. 
To His Excell'y the Presid't & the Supreme Ex- 
ecutive Council of Pennsylvania. 

Delegates in Congress Gardner and Henry 
to President Dickinson, of Penn- 
sylvania. 

New York, March 9th, 1785. 
Sir:— 

We have been honored with your Excellency's 
favor of February 17th date, enclosing the Memor- 
ial of the Merchant's and Traders of the City of 
Philada., expressing their apprehensions of further 
depredations on their trade by the Barbary Corsairs, 
if speedy and effectual measures are not taken to 
prevent them, which has been laid before Congress 
— and we are happy to inform you, Sir, & thro' you 
the Merchants of Philadelphia, that Congress have 
not been inattentive to this very important concern, 
to which we believe they are well disposed to give 
every relief in their power. Our ministers abroad 
have long since been authorized to negotiate with the 



172 The Life of William Henry. 

States of Barbary (in common with others) treaties 
of amity & commerce, which we have reason to 
know have only been rendered ineffectual heretofore 
(with the Barbary States) for want of a sum of 
money, which custom has made absolutely necessary 
to purchase them. 

Congress have lately appropriated for this purpose 
a sum of money not exceeding eighty thousand dol- 
lars, subject to the draughts of our ministers. A 
Gentleman well recommended for his integrity and 
personal knowledge of the country, will be charged 
with fresh dispatches to Europe in a short time, 
respecting this business, who may probably be em- 
ployed to carry into effect the wishes of Congress 
at the Court of the Emperor of Morrocco. 

Altho' we ardently wish as much as possible to 
satisfy the anxiety of the merchants upon this sub- 
ject, yet we request that no extracts may be taken or 
published, as the matter is yet sub judice, and any 
premature publication may have a tendancy to delay, 
if not prevent, the proposed negotiations, and draw 
the unwary merchants into a snare, by mistaking the 
intention for the fact. There is little reason to 
doubt but that Great Britain will use all her in- 
fluence to prevent any such treaties being made. As 
soon as Congress have taken their final determina- 
tions upon this subject, we will have the honor of 
communicating them as far as our injunctions of 
secrecy will admit. 



The Life of William Henry. 173 

Mr. Marbois, in the name of the King, his mas- 
ter, has made a demand of Longchamps; this has 
been under consideration for several days as the 
order of the day, and has been postponed; when 
this great national question may be discussed is un- 
certain, but there appears no disposition to hurry. 
No moves have been made by the Connecticut 
Gentlemen upon the Wyoming business, and we 
remain in the dark what the wish of the State is in 
the affair. If any determinations of the house take 
place, we will be much obliged by your Excell'ys 
communication upon that subject. Gen'l Knox is 
appointed Secretary at War. The treasury is not 
yet formed — no official acctts from Jarvais or Os- 
good whether they will serve or no. We are. 
With great respect, Sir, 

Your Excell'ys 
most obt. & Very 

h'ble Serv'ts, 
Joseph Gardner, 
William Henry. 

From Colonel Henry to Hon. Geo. Bryan. 

New York, the 25th March 1785. 
Dear Sir: — 

The principal business now before Congress is 
the Disposing of the lands lately purchased and the 
making of a second purchase. Much time has been 
spent by a Committee of one from each of twelve 



174 The Life of William Henry. 

states on the first and It is probable the lands will be 
sold by Districts of ten or twelve miles square to the 
highest bider, above such price as Congress may fix 
for the acre. A number of districts will probably 
put up to the sale in the different states perhaps 
nearly In proportion to their demand. The Com- 
missioners are authorised to make the second pur- 
chase to the Mississippi and as the Indians have 
offered those lands for sale there will probably be 
little Difficulty In purchasing them. Commissioners 
are appointed to hold a treaty with the Creeks, Che- 
rokees &c. 

The place for holding the federal Court for Mas- 
sachusetts and New York Is not yet Determined. 

Longchamps' affair was to have been brought 
forward this day but Is again gone off by an adjourn- 
ment to next Monday. Your French Pamphlet 
came very apropos, as It has run through a number 
of able hands since, and is now In Mr. Jay's. 

What Is our assembly about? Have they passed 
the law for regulating Elections? If this Is not 
done I (think) they will not hold their seats another 
year. I am sir, your Hum'l Serv't 

William Henry. 
The Honorable George Bryan.^^ 

While attending the Congress in New York 

^® George Bryan was born in Dublin, Ireland, 1731, died 
in Philadelphia, January 27, 1791. 1765, delegate to the 
Stamp Act Congress. 1777, Vice-President Supreme Exec- 



The Life of William Henry. 175 

in 1785, Colonel Henry became ill of a lung 
disorder, compelling his return to Lancaster, 
where he died December 15, 1786, at the age 
of fifty-seven, having barely passed the merid- 
ian of life. Three days afterwards his re- 
mains were followed to the tomb in the Mo- 
ravian Cemetery by a concourse of citizens 
from the town and countryside, together with 
the clergy of the Moravian, Episcopal, 
Lutheran and Reformed churches. He was 
survived by his wife, a daughter and six 
sons. 

The recollection of his own deficient educa- 
tion, the result of adverse circumstances, not 
from incapacity, strengthened his determina- 
tion that his children should enjoy what he 
had been deprived of. What he lost in his 
youth, however, his alert mind as it matured, 
made up in an almost insatiable appetite for 
books, which he gratified to the extent of his 
purse, utilizing as well the library he helped 
to found. His literary studies ran to the sci- 
ences which he absorbed, reading everything 

utive Council of Pennsylvania, and on the death of 
President Wharton, President of the State. 1780, Assist- 
ant Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He 
was opposed to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. 



176 The Life of William Henry. 

within his grasp, with little or no mental 
effort. He was a close student of the Intri- 
cacies of political economy and of history, and 
he confesses in his autobiography, that in his 
early manhood, unconsciously following a 
tendency of the day to treat flippantly all 
religious thought, he read and was disposed 
to accept the teachings of the deistical writers 
of the French school and their American 
plagiarists, all of whom, however, he lived 
to denounce. 

Hence we cannot wonder that he contem- 
plated the education of his children with ex- 
treme solicitude; his sons upon attaining the 
proper age entered Franklin College and his 
daughter the Moravian Institution at Beth- 
lehem, Pa. 

He thus writes to Bishop Seidel of that In- 
stitution in relation to one of his children who 
was 111 there of scarlet fever, and also men- 
tions having received a letter from his son 
John Joseph Henry from Quebec written a 
short time before the assault on that city. 

Lancaster Dec. 23, 1775. 
Dear Bishop Seidel: 

I know that you will excuse me in giving you 
the trouble to thank the Sisters who have the care 



The Life of William Henry. 177 

of my children, and particularly to Sister Esther, 
for the attention she has given to My dear Betsy. 
Her letters were much appreciated. My little son 
Nathaniel has been suffering from the same dis- 
order, and is not expected to recover. I shall be 
glad to hear at every opportunity what progress to 
recovery My dear Betsy is making. 

I enclose thirty shillings, which please ask Sister 
Gerhart to lay out as she thinks best for Betsy. 

I have received a letter from my son John 
(Joseph) at Quebec, he was then well. With 
great respect, I have the honor to be 

William Henry. 

Colonel Henry was of commanding pres- 
ence, tall, vigorous and muscular with promi- 
nent features. Although the expression of 
his face was stern, it belied the innate gen- 
tleness of his nature as all the recorded acts of 
his life, as they have passed In review before 
us, exhibit a self-sacrificing and tender solici- 
tude for the welfare of others. 

That he was unable to resist the first onset 
of disease was largely due to his Impoverished 
vitality. The harassing anxieties, inseparable 
from a conscientious performance of his mili- 
tary and civil duties, coupled with the con- 
stant and fatiguing journeys to Philadelphia 

13 



178 The Life of William Henry. 

and New York and the towns adjacent to Lan- 
caster, all taken in the public service, were 
contributory factors in hastening his early and 
inopportune death, entailing upon the repub- 
lic in its formative period the loss of a wise 
counsellor, one of its very few able financiers, 
and the world of science a genius whose par- 
tially developed powers left much to be ex- 
pected of him. 

To say that his services, which were often 
of incalculable value to the Confederation and 
to Pennsylvania, were tendered without con- 
sidering the compensation as of paramount 
importance, is but to do him justice. As dis- 
bursing officer of the government and treas- 
urer of the county, vast sums for that day 
passed through his hands and left no stain nor 
the vaguest suspicion of venality. As a mat- 
ter of fact, although he died leaving what was 
then a handsome fortune (which an audit in 
the Lancaster County Orphans' Court shows 
to have been £22,455.7.5), his estate was in a 
measure embarrassed by reason of the tardi- 
ness of the government in making settlement 
for large personal advances made during the 
Revolution, for which his heirs were not reim- 
bursed until 1 8 1 1 . It is not too much to say 



The Life of William Henry. 179 

that he pledged his fortune on the Issue of the 
contest, and gave his life to the State. 

In summing up the story of his life It will 
be gratifying to those who have been Inter- 
ested In the recital of his achievements, and 
noted his unfaltering zeal In promoting the 
struggle for liberty, to learn that he was per- 
mitted to witness its successful outcome. 

It is true, he was one of many who con- 
tributed to that end, but none exceeded him 
In unselfish devotion, or were actuated by lof- 
tier motives of patriotism and love of country. 
In the words of a contemporary writer, " He 
was one of the notable figures of his time." 



INDEX 

American Philosophical Society Transactions, Henry's 

contributions to, 41-46. 
Arbuthnot, Capt. Alex., prisoner of war, to W. Henry, 

158, 159. 
Atlee, Hon. William, 139. 

Barton, Rev. Thomas, 87, 88, 89, 90. 

Bevan, Jane, 22. 

Bevan, John, 22. 

Bickham, 4. 

Biddle, Owen, 66. 

Bradford, William, Jr., Atty. Gen., letter to W. Henry, 

155, 156. 
Bryan, Hon. Geo., W. Henry to, 157, 158, 173, 174. 

Cambray, Le Cheve de, 100. 
Carleton, Sir Guy, 64. 
Carothers, Col. John, 87, 88. 
Carson, 4. 

Davis, Mary A., wife James Henry, 3. 
Davis, Sarah, wife Robert Henry, 3. 
DeVinney, Hugh, 4. 
DeVinney, Mary (Jenkins), 4. 

Dickinson, Hon. John, letters from, W. Henry, 162, 170; 
letters to, i68, 169. 

Febiger, Col. C, 66 

Fitch, John, admits Henry's priority as inventor of steam- 
boat, 51 ; dispute with Rumsey, 51 ; at American 
180 



Index. i8i 

Philosophical Society, 51; visits Henry, examines 
model of steamboat, 53. 

Gates, Gen. Horatio, 93. 

Gelelemend, alias Killbuck, Delaware chief, 4. 

Gordon, David, 6. 

Hall, James, 6. 

Hart, John, guest W. Henry, 80. 

Hazen, Gen. Moses, letter to W. Henry, 160. 

Heckewelder, Johanna Maria, 12. 

Heckewelder, John, 12. 

Henry, Ann, treasurer of Lancaster County, 20; Ritten- 
house to, 21 ; ancestry, 22; character, 23; death, 24; 
West paints portrait, 28; meets Priestley, 37; affi- 
davit regarding invention of steamboat, 52. 

Henry, Benjamin West, artist, 31. 

Henry, Granville, 29, 41. 

Henry, James (uncle), settles in Pennsylvania, 3; marries, 
3 ; death, 3, 47. 

Henry, James (of Boulton), sketch of, 32; visit of and 
to Col. John Trumbull, 31, 32. 

Henry, John (father), settles in Chester Co., Pa., 3; mar- 
ries, 4; his death, 4; death of wife, 5. 

Henry, John Joseph, 23; enlists in army, 60; joins Ar- 
nold's expedition to Canada, 60; hardships of march, 
61-62 ; wounded and captured at Quebec, 63 ; attacked 
by scurvy, 63 ; befriended by British officers, 64 ; ex- 
changed, 64; at Elizabethport, N. J., 65; at Prince- 
ton, 66 ; at Philadelphia, 66 ; reaches home, 67 ; forced 
to decline army commissions, 67 ; enters office of Pro- 
thonotary, 68 ; reads law and admitted to practice, 68 ; 
marries preceptor's sister, 68; appointed judge, 68; 
resigns, 69 ; author of " Campaign against Quebec," 
69; Justin H. Smith's sketch of, 70; Judge Henry's on 
Thomas Paine, 83-85; death, 69. 



i82 Index. 

Henry, Matthew, visits Killbuck, 13; engages son for 
guide, 14; letter to J. J. Henry, 14. 

Henry, Mary Ann (grandmother), death of, 3. 

Henry, Robert (grandfather), settles in Pennsylvania, 3; 
death of, 3. 

Henry, Robert (uncle), settles in Pennsylvania, 3; marries, 
3 ; removes to Virginia, 3, 47. 

Henry, Dr. Stephen Chambers, of Detroit, at Hull's sur- 
render, 70. 

Henry, William, ancestry and early life, i; Armorer of 
Braddock's and Forbes' expeditions, 2; Assistant Com- 
missary General, 2, 73 ; Member of Assembly, 3 ; 
judge, 3; treasurer, 3; fiscal agent, 2; member of 
Congress, 3, 73; his mother, 4, 5; apprenticed, 4; 
meets Killbuck in Congress, 11; marries Ann Wood, 
19; her death, 24; patron Benj. West, 26, 27; who 
paints portraits, 28 ; " Death of Socrates," 28, 29, 30, 
31; Benj. West Henry, 31; sails for England, 34; 
captured by privateer, 35; reaches London, visits 
Watts, sees steam engine, 35-36; returns home, 36; 
member American Philosophical Society, 38; founder 
Juliana Library, 39; invents screw augur, 39; steam 
sentinel register, 41-46 ; first to apply steam for 
motive power, 41 ; Schoepff's visit, 49 ; steamboat 
tested on Conestoga, 48 ; Fitch's visit to, 49, 50 ; 
Fitch admits Henry's priority of invention, 51 ; in- 
spects model of steamboat, 53 ; Thurston on invention, 
54, 55; Assistant Burgess, 56; canal commissioner, 
56; justice of the peace, 71; President Judge, 72; 
commissioner to regulate prices, 72; salary as treas- 
urer, 72; shrewd man of affairs, 74; Rittenhouse, 
Hart and Paine his guests, 80; Paine's habits, 82; 
ordered to arrest Rev. Thomas Barton, 87-90; pays 
expenses of illumination, 90; gun works, 91; estab- 
lishes factories 102; appointed commissary of hides, 



Index. 183 

102, 103; commissioner to regulate price of flour, 
133; financier, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150; friendship of 
Rittenhouse, 165, 166; elected to Congress, 166; com- 
mittees, 167, 171, 172, 173; last illness, death and 
burial, 175 ; interest in children's education, 175, 176, 
177 ; personal appearance, 177 ; estate, 178 ; letters 
of Capt. Alex. Arbuthnot, 158, 159; William Brad- 
ford, Jr., 155-156; de Cambray, 100; Hon. John 
Dickinson, i6i, 162, 169; Gen. H. Gates, 93; Gen. 
Moses Hazen, 160; "Light Horse" Harry Lee, 92; 
Major Chas. Lukens, 100, loi ; Timothy Matlack, 98, 
99; Richard Peters, 92, 96, 108, 109, no; Timothy 
Pickering, 97, 98, 105, 106, 107, 108 ; Joseph Reed, 
112, 113, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 134, 
i35» 136, 137. 138, 143, i44» 145; Benj. Stoddard, 
Secretary of War, 114; Gen. Geo. Washington, 79, 
95 ; Thos. Wharton, Jr., 75, 76, 77, 78 ; letters to Hon. 
Wm. Atlee, 139; William Bradford, 5; Hon. Geo. 
Bryan, 157-158, 173-174; John Dickinson, 168, 169; 
Samuel Hodgdon, A. A. G., 140-141 ; Hon. Wm. 
Moore, 151-155; Joseph Reed, 114, 115, n6, 117, 
118, 119, 120, 121, 129, 130; David Rittenhouse, 168, 
169; Bishop N. Seidel, 176-177; Gen. A. Wayne, 
142, 143. 

Henry, William, Jr., sketch of, 9; Killbuck's visit, 9; 
meets Killbuck's children in Ohio, 11; visit him at 
Nazareth, 12; letter of Killbuck to, 15. 

Henry, William, 3d, sketch of, 14 

Henry, Captain William, see Killbuck. 

Henry MSS., Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 40. 

Hodgdon, Samuel, A. A. Gen., letters of W. Henry, 140, 
141. 

Killbuck, 4; Henry rescues him, 8; visits W. Henry, Jr., 
9; pensioned, 10; meets W. Henry in Congress, 11; 



184 Index. 

sends condolence on death W. Henry to wife, 11; 
Matthew Henry visits, 14; letter to W. Henry, Jr., 
15; death, 16; descendants in Kansas, 16. 
Killbuck, Rev. John Henry, Moravian missionary 17. 

Lee, ''Light Horse" Harry, 92. 

Lukens, Major Charles, to W. Henry, 100, loi. 

McDougal, Col., 64. 

McKenzie, Capt., 65; son of, 65. 

Matlack, Timothy, to W. Henry, 98, 99. 

Meyer, George, 6. 

Moore, Hon. William, from W. Henry, 153, 154, 155. 

Morgan, Col. J., 67. 

Netawatwes, grandfather of Killbuck, 7. 
Nichols, Col. Francis, 66. 

Paine, Thomas, 51; guest W. Henry, 80; "Crisis V.," 
82; John Joseph Henry's sketch of, 83-86. 

Pennsylvania Line revolt, 131, 132. 

Peters, Richard, to W. Henry, 92, 96, 108, 109, no. 

Philadelphia Merchants to W. Henry, 170, 171, 172, 173. 

Pickering, Timothy, to W. Henry, 97, 98, 105, 106, 107, 
108. 

Postlethwait, 4. 

Prentice, Capt., 64. 

Reed, Hon. Joseph, letters to W. Henry, 112, 113, 122, 

123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 134, 135, 136, 137, 

138, 143, 144, 145; letters from W. Henry, 114, 115, 

116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 129, 130, 148, 149, 150. 

Rittenhouse, David, letters, 21, 39, 80, 162, 163; guest of 
W. Henry, 80; long friendship, 164, 166. 

Roesser, Mathew, W. Henry apprenticed to, 4. 



Index. 185 



Rose, Joseph, 22. 
Rose, Ursula, 6. 



Seidel, Bishop N., 176, 177. 

Shannon, W., 104, 105. 

Simon, Joseph, 4. 

Smith, Aubrey Henry, 69. 

Stevenson, George, 88, 89. 

Stoddard, B., Secretary of War, 114. 

Sutcliffe, Alice Crary, mentions W. Henry, 50. 

Taylor, Philip, 22. 

Thurston, Prof. R. H., 2, 40; sketch W. Henry, 46, 54-55. 

Washington, Gen. Geo., letters to W. Henry, 79, 95. 

Wayne, Gen. A., letters to W. Henry, 93, 94, 142 ; letters 
from, 142, 143. 

West, Benjamin, W. Henry patron of, 26, 27; paints por- 
traits W. Henry and wife, 28 ; " Death of Socrates," 
28, 29, 30, 31; invites Benj. West Henry to visit him 
in London, 31. 

Wharton, Thomas, Jr., letters to W. Henry, 75, 76, 77, 78. 

Witherspoon, Rev. John, 66. 

Wood, Abraham, 19. 

Wood, Ann, wife W. Henry, 19. 

Wood, George, 22. 

Wood, John, 22. 



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